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 Port of South Louisiana agreed to seek up to $400 million in bonds to fund the construction of a major dock and ancillary facilities to serve the private corporations seeking to build two ammonia plants and a steel plant on the west bank of the Mississippi River, in Ascension Parish.

According to the Louisiana constitution, such decisions must be subject to public notice, properly published in the official journal of the state. The Port of South Louisiana confirmed it did not do so – publishing its notice instead in a small newspaper with a circulation that does not include the area where the dock would be constructed. Making matters worse, the negotiations and planning of the industrial development project were subject to numerous non-disclosure agreements signed by local and state officials, including port officials.

On April 2, 2026, plaintiffs took the matter to court to obtain a declaratory judgment about the state's obligation to submit to large amounts of taxpayer debt to proper public notice.