In March 2025, federal and state officials announced a massive incentive package for Hyundai Steel to locate in a planned industrial park on the west bank of Ascension Parish, Louisiana. The plan would spell the end of the historic town of Modeste, a community of families who have lived there for generations, and it would bring more pollution to an area already inundated in the heart of what has become known as "Cancer Alley."

The state of Louisiana assembled a package that totalled more than $600 million in direct incentives to the company and over a billion dollars in tax exemptions. As part of that package, the Louisiana office of Economic Development (LED) entered into a CEA with Hyundai where it committed the state to over $200 million in in direct expenditures, including up to $100 million for a land purchase for Hyundai, and up to a $100 million reimbursement of the company's construction costs. One Hyundai representative referred to the deal as including "free land and infrastructure."

According to the Louisiana constitution, such commitments of state funds must be subject to review and approval of the State Bond Commission. The State Bond Commission, however, had no record of any application for approval of the CEA, and neither LED nor the Louisiana Division of Administration provided any record of submitting the CEA to the Commission. Making matters worse, the negotiations and planning were subject to numerous non-disclosure agreements signed by local and state officials.

On April 2, 2026, plaintiffs took the matter to court to obtain a declaratory judgment about the state's obligation to submit such large commitments of taxpayer funds to public notice and Bond Commission oversight and approval.