Sierra Club backs appeal against west Shreveport data center development
The Sierra Club's Delta Chapter and plaintiffs are appealing a Caddo Parish judge's ruling that upheld a special-use permit for a STACK Infrastructure data center in west Shreveport. This appeal challenges the Shreveport City Council's decision to approve the development for Amazon Web Services, which the city's planning commission had initially blocked.
The Sierra Club's Delta Chapter announced its decision to appeal a Caddo Parish judge's ruling that upheld a special-use permit for a large data center development in west Shreveport, Louisiana. The deadline for the appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeal is June 26. Angelle Bradford Rosenberg, chair of the Sierra Club's Delta Chapter, expressed frustration with the April ruling and confirmed the plaintiffs' commitment to challenging the decision.
The appeal targets Judge Ramon Lafitte's dismissal of litigation that sought judicial review of the Shreveport City Council's approval of the data center. This approval came despite the city's planning commission initially blocking the project. The Delta Chapter, a statewide environmental organization, has provided financial support to plaintiffs Tyler Gordon, Michael Craft, and Mary Blakemore, incurring significant legal costs.
The lawsuit aims to compel the city to reconsider its decision to grant the special permit. The legal victory previously allowed STACK Infrastructure to proceed with building a third massive data center campus for Amazon Web Services in the area. While two other tech hubs, valued at $6 billion each, are already under construction in north Bossier and rural Caddo Parish, the Shreveport campus faced a 90-day stall after the initial litigation was filed.
The plaintiffs will retain their current legal counsel, Jack Bailey and Clay Garside, for the appeal. Rosenberg emphasized the importance of holding cities accountable to their established policies through this legal action.