Posted on May 6, 2019
Sen. John Alario, the longest serving member of the Louisiana Legislature, has built a career around his ability to adroitly flex his political muscle. From getting budgets approved to blocking controversial proposals, the Westwego Republican has shaped key measures and state leaders spanning four decades at the Capitol.
His latest maneuver, however, left some New Orleans-area lawmakers scratching their heads. On Monday (April 29), Alario pushed a floor amendment that would transfer jurisdiction of the former Avondale shipyard site from the Port of New Orleans to the Port of South Louisiana. It was attached to an unrelated bill from Sen. Rick Ward, R-Port Allen, dealing with Baton Rouge port expansion.
“This is simply to add some acreage to the Port of South Louisiana,” Ward told his Senate colleagues in summarizing the amendment, not mentioning the Port of New Orleans or the Avondale site.
“This actually is a little bit more than adding acreage. This dramatically alters the Port of New Orleans, doesn’t it?” asked Sen. Conrad Appel, R-Metairie.
The nearly 260-acre shipyard site was dormant until last year when a joint venture, Avondale Marine, acquired the property for a planned “intermodal global logistics hub.” Partners T. Parker Host and Hilco Global estimate the facility will ultimately employ 2,000 workers.
It’s apparently those jobs that led Alario to tack the amendment onto Ward’s bill. While Appel was asking Ward to explain the amendment, Alario inserted himself into the discussion, a rare occurrence for the usually hands-off Senate president.
“Avondale Shipyard, quite frankly, is having a difficult time with the Port of New Orleans cooperating (with) them in creating jobs in Jefferson Parish,” Alario said. “The Port of South Louisiana has a much more friendly … attitude about helping in that regard, and we thought maybe this might catch their attention and try and cooperate a little bit more.”
Appel was poised to seek more details, but Alario added that Ward’s bill still had “a long way to go in the process.”
The Senate president then moved quickly to add the amendment, but it would be removed the next day. In a phone call Tuesday afternoon, Alario said he had since met with Port of New Orleans officials, who alleviated his concerns about job creation at Avondale Marine. He had not spoken with anyone from the company since Monday’s action in the Senate, he said.
It’s still not quite clear what concerns Avondale Marine had about job creation. Some ships have temporarily berthed at its docks, but much of its planned intermodal service is still in the works. A public relations firm relayed an interview request from NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune to Avondale Marine, but there was no response as of Wednesday morning.
In a statement, Matt Gresham, director of external affairs for the Port of New Orleans, said they were not aware of Alario’s amendment before it came up on the Senate floor Monday.
After Avondale Marine secured its purchase of the shipyard in October, the Port of New Orleans, its subsidiary New Orleans Public Belt Railroad and Jefferson Parish struck a cooperative endeavor agreement (CEA) with the new owners.
The pact establishes that Avondale Marine is within the jurisdiction of the Port of New Orleans, and it outlines details such as a joint effort to pursue container barge service for Avondale Marine. There is no mention of job creation involving the port in the agreement.
“Port leadership and staff have worked closely with Avondale Marine throughout their acquisition of the site,” Gresham said. “… The CEA outlines opportunities for collaboration among the parties geared toward developing Avondale into a vibrant maritime and logistics hub.”
Ward and Paul Aucoin, executive director of the Port of South Louisiana, did not respond to interview requests. Alario said in the interview that the Port of South Louisiana did not contact him with interest in adding the Avondale property to its footprint, but the senator said he has always been impressed with its operations.
While Alario’s Senate district includes Avondale, the heart of the Port of New Orleans lies within the district of Sen. Karen Carter Peterson. Her sister, Tara C. Hernandez, is on the port’s board of commissioners, and Peterson told the Senate Hernandez did not tell her a jurisdiction change for the shipyard site was in the works.
After Alario hastily approved the amendment Monday, she pressed Ward for details he couldn’t provide.
“That’s the stuff we get in trouble about, because we don’t have a lot of facts,” Peterson said.
Source: nola.com
