The City of Donaldsonville and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration held a ceremony at the Lemann Memorial Center in Donaldsonville the afternoon of May 17 to officially announce investments in energy infrastructure for several Louisiana communities.
Local, state and federal officials, including U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), attended the event to celebrate the grant program, which was established through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law signed by President Joe Biden Nov. 15, 2021.
The program has awarded more than $392 million in total grants this year, per a PHMSA news release.
Louisiana recipients included the City of Donaldsonville, East Baton Rouge Parish, East Feliciana Parish, West Feliciana Parish, the City of Port Allen, the City of Walker and the Town of Berwick.
As previously announced by Cassidy’s office in an April news release, Donaldsonville received a $20 million grant for pipeline construction to replace 27.3 miles of natural gas infrastructure.
The latest funding adds to the initial $10 million grant which was celebrated in April 2023 during a similar event with several elected officials in Donaldsonville.
The other grants this round were:
- Gas Utility District 2 of East Feliciana – $15,500,000
- Gas Utility District 1 of East Baton Rouge Parish – $9,427,539
- Gas Utility District of West Feliciana Parish – $2,339,165
- Town of Berwick – $1,993,452
- Town of Berwick – $1,854,512
- City of Walker – $1,150,780
- City of Port Allen – $206,000
- Town of Berwick – $187,081
- Gas Utility District 1 of East Baton Rouge Parish – $69,269
PHMSA Deputy Administrator Tristan Brown said his agency, which oversees the nation’s nearly 3 million miles of oil and gas pipelines and hazardous materials transportation, created its first ever infrastructure grant program in 2021, after the act was signed.
“The very first grant announcement was right here when we provided the largest amount of money for any state in the country,” Brown said.
Some $1.8 billion in applications have been received, though less than $400 million has been made available, per the administrator.
Cassidy, who was in attendance in 2023 as well, credited the president for signing the act, but said Congress drove it.
“My vision was how do we help Louisiana catch up to where we need to be in 2023, 2024 and build an economy and a future for 2050,” Cassidy said. “We want our young people to settle here, to have their grandchildren here so that mama and daddy, and grandma and grandpa, stay here too. This is part of that plan.”
He also pointed to funding going toward broadband, roads and bridges, coastal restoration and flood mitigation.
“We are catching up to where we should be and we’re building an economy for 2050,” Cassidy said.
He concluded by crediting the local leaders for applying for the grants and addressing their communities’ needs.
Donaldsonville Mayor Leroy Sullivan spoke about two lifechanging events – an explosion at CF Industries in May 2000 that burned more than half of his body and a fatal natural gas explosion in the city years ago.
Sullivan’s son was born around the time of the plant explosion. He recalled how it felt not being able to hold his young son due to being injured.
The mayor said those lifechanging events have stuck with him over the years and it has been his mission to prevent such tragedies.
U.S. Rep. Troy Carter was unable to go to this year’s event, but a representative from his office was in attendance.
Several area leaders attended, including state Sen. Ed Price and Rep. Ken Brass.
Gonzales Weekly Citizen and Donaldsonville Chief, part of the USA Today Network of Louisiana, cover Ascension Parish and the greater Baton Rouge area. Follow at facebook.com/WeeklyCitizen and facebook.com/DonaldsonvilleChief.