A state appeals court in Louisiana recently ruled that local officials in St. James Parish violated state law by holding closed-door meetings about a proposed chemical plant.

According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, three judges of the Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal in Gretna agreed with a lower court ruling that officials did not comply with the state’s open meetings law when the St. James Parish Planning Commission and council met twice in May 2019.

“The meetings were not publicly noticed, were held at a location not typically used for parish business, and were closed to anyone who had not been invited,” the newspaper reported.

The meetings centered on Wanhua Chemical, a Chinese company seeking a permit for a $1.25 billion plastics manufacturing facility in Convent, located on the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge in a highly industrialized area known as Cancer Alley.

”If Wanhua had come in, that would’ve meant more pollution,” Sharon Lavigne, founder of activist group RISE St. James, told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “So for them to do this behind our back, they need to be held accountable.”