Concerned neighbors, supporters speak out at hearing on Hyundai steel mill pollution permit

DONALDSONVILLE — A crowd staunchly divided over whether the state should grant a key permit for the Hyundai steel mill planned in Ascension Parish filled every seat available Tuesday night at the Lemann Center Gymnasium.

T-shirts emblazoned with personal opinions on the project, worn with suits by some and casual attire by others, punctuated the crowd, where a common question passed between people in adjoining seats: “Are y’all for or against?”

This was the first and only public hearing the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality has planned for the Hyundai-Posco Louisiana Steel facility’s air pollution permit. It provided residents, elected officials, industry representatives, and local business owners a chance to share their thoughts on whether the state should approve the project based on its pollution impact.

The 1,700-acre steel manufacturing site was announced in March 2025 as a proposed $5.8 billion investment near the Modeste community. The facility will occupy 10% of an undeveloped tract along the Mississippi west bank known as the RiverPlex MegaPark, an area zoned for industrial development and mixed uses. Promising to bring 1,300 direct jobs to the River Parishes, the mill is expected to produce 2.7 million metric tons of steel for Hyundai and Kia automobile plants in the U.S. and other automakers.

Along with job promises, the facility will produce more than 1.6 million tons of greenhouse gases and release 196 tons of particulate matter and 1,760 pounds of lead into the air each year, according to its air pollution permit application with the state.

“It’s good to have an industry moving in, I understand that part. I worked in the industry for 42 years, I know what it’s all about,” said Paul Troxclair, a Donaldsonville resident whose home lies within 2 miles of the steel mill’s proposed site. “But you’ve got to think of the people that you’ve affected. [The steel mill is] putting a lot more pollution in the air, and it’s not good for people.”

Business owners and people Hyundai has already hired to work on the project spoke in support, though with measured tones, saying that if the emission amounts in its permit application are allowed under the law, the project should move forward.

Rebecca Evans Mouk, who said she lives within 2 miles of the proposed steel plant, said she supports the project in hopes that it will provide jobs.

“We’re already an industrial community,” Mouk said, adding that she owns two industrial equipment businesses in the area that had already seen an economic boost from the project. “Louisiana has an amazing opportunity to continue building on these existing industries and create a future for our children in our communities.”

Other residents without any financial connection to the project were divided in their comments, with some sharing concerns about pollution and construction traffic disruptions.

Kristopher Cayette from Donaldsonville said he grew up right down the street from the RiverPlex site.

“I heard a lot of people who are for the project talk about finance, but I believe this is an environmental quality hearing,” he said. There “aren’t enough safeguards in place to at least diminish the air pollutants” for him to be in favor of granting the air quality permit.

“We already know the financial aspect of it, but it’s about the people who couldn’t sell their land who live right next to it and who won’t be able to go anywhere,” Cayette said.

Troxclair said he moved to Donaldsonville to retire after construction of a Shintech vinyl chloride facility next to his former home in Iberville Parish led him to move away. Now, he said he is experiencing a similar situation with Hyundai Steel.

“I moved here, hopefully to a peaceful environment, nice neighbors, old trees to go sit under,” he said. “Right now, with all the traffic they’ve got with the dump trucks, all the dust, I can’t even go sit outside and enjoy it underneath the oak trees.”

Modeste resident Sherry White said she doesn’t feel the Department of Environmental Quality has adequately addressed the pollution concerns of neighbors next to the Hyundai development.

“When residents say they are concerned about adding more industrial facilities to communities that have already carried an enormous environmental burden, that concern deserves to be taken seriously,” White said. “We should not dismiss people by telling them this project will be different.”

According to White, other facilities offered similar promises of economic prosperity but have not delivered.

“We’ve heard it before,” she said. “We still haven’t seen it. We just won’t go down this rabbit hole again.”

White specifically mentioned CF Industries, which operates an expansive ammonia manufacturing campus in Donaldsonville. The company’s website indicates it employs 500 permanent staff and 485 contract workers there.

CF Industries is also building what it says will be the world’s largest “low-carbon” ammonia plant, a $4 billion project that will add more than 100 more jobs.

Public officials spoke first at the hearing, including state Rep. Jeff Wiley, R-Maurepas, the former sheriff of Ascension Parish.

“They are the straw that stirs the drink …” Wiley said about the tax dollars industry generates. “I can’t imagine any thoughtful person would not be in support of something with such an enormous upside.”

State Rep. Tony Bacala, R-Prairieville, and Sen. Eddie Lambert, R-Gonzales, also voiced their support for the project. Lambert authored a state law that weakened community air monitoring around industrial facilities in the state.

“This is a truly once in a lifetime opportunity, and it will transform Donaldsonville,” Lambert said. “It’s the best thing that has happened to the west bank in years.”

Other local officials also spoke in support of the project, including Ascension Parish President Clint Cointment, St. James Parish President Pete Dufresne and Donaldsonville Mayor Leroy Sullivan.

The Hyundai facility will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for its steel mill Friday. The deadline to submit public comment on its LDEQ permit application was originally set for Wednesday, Sept. 2, but public outcry led state officials to extend the period to Sept. 15.

The project’s ceremonial start will still take place this week.