Nine months of stonewalling by Ascension Parish begs the question, “what do parish officials have to hide?”
A state court judge has ruled that Ascension Parish improperly withheld non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) entered into by Parish officials with other state officials and Hyundai in connection with proposed heavy industrial development projects planned for West Ascension Parish. Judge Cody Martin of the 23rd Judicial District Court issued the ruling, filed with the clerk on Monday, ordering the Parish to hand over the records to Rural Roots Louisiana, a community organization based in Ascension Parish, which sought the NDAs through a public records request submitted in September of 2025. The Louisiana Bucket Brigade is also a plaintiff in the suit.
“If these projects are truly in the best interest of the people, why are so many documents hidden behind secrecy?” asked Ashley Gaignard, President of Rural Roots Louisiana. “The people of Ascension Parish deserve transparency, honesty , and a clear understanding of what is being planned for our communities, our health and our future. What are they hiding, and why can’t the public know the full plan before decisions are made that impact generations to come?”
At stake is the future of an area that comprises nearly 10% of the land in the parish – 17,000 acres on the west bank of Ascension Parish in the community of Modeste. The residential area was designated conservation before the parish’s recent re-zoning.
The town of Donaldsonville is also threatened by the project, an industrial expansion dubbed the RiverPlex MegaPark. The industrial onslaught, which has involved the unprecedented use of NDAs and months long evasion by Ascension Parish officials, would include a hydrogen hub, at least three carbon capture pipelines, a 2.7-gigawatt gas fired power plant, a Hyundai steel plant, and a CF ammonia facility. The Trump Administration announced on Wednesday that the CF facility would have all permits within 45 days, an unprecedented circumvention of the permitting process.
The Parish’s refusal to turn over the NDAs it has used in pursuit of the MegaPark complex necessitated the lawsuit, which was filed in December of 2025. In his ruling, Judge Martin held that none of the exceptions that the Parish identified exempted the records from disclosure. In particular, the Parish claimed that the records were exempt from disclosure under a controversial amendment to the public records law which prevents disclosure of records of economic development negotiations in some circumstances and subject to procedural safeguards intended to ensure some level of transparency. The Court found that it “is clear that at the time of the public records request at issue being made, Ascension Parish had not properly performed said procedures and these protections were not applicable as a basis to prevent production of the requested documentation.”
The court ordered the release of the records within five days, but the Parish has moved to appeal the ruling and forestall the disclosure of the records.
“The court rightly held the NDAs are clearly public records and the public has a right to see them,” said Pam Spees, senior attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights and counsel for the plaintiffs. “Ordinary citizens or community organizations shouldn’t have to fight this hard for records like this but Rural Roots is dug in to get them released so the public can see which of their officials agreed to secrecy about matters that have life-changing consequences for their lives, homes, and community.”
Ascension Parish residents have been essential to shining a light on the secretive and rushed plan to industrial West Ascension. “NDAs should never have been signed in the first place,” said Keeonkah Julien Judson, a lifelong Ascension Parish resident whose family goes back generations in Modeste. “Ascension Parish is determined to fight tooth and nail to keep these records from being disclosed to the public. This level of resistance only reinforces the belief that the public is asking the right questions. Accountability and transparency should be the standard at every level of government, especially locally, where these decisions directly impact our community every day.”
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