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Gov. John Bel Edwards and Cleco Corporate Holdings LLC President and CEO Bill Fontenot announced the company will invest $900 million to significantly reduce carbon emissions at the largest of its nine electric generation units in Louisiana, Madison-3 at Brame Energy Center in Lena.

Cleco Power, a regulated electric public utility that serves 291,000 customers in 24 Louisiana parishes, will build a carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) facility to remove and compress 95% or more of the CO2 emitted by Madison-3 and permanently store it in geological formations under the site. The company has named the project “Diamond Vault,” and estimates it will create 30 to 40 direct new jobs and an average of 1,100 construction jobs in central Louisiana over a three-year period.

“Today’s announcement is an important milestone on Louisiana’s path to a cleaner energy future,” Edwards said.

“Our state has attracted significant investment in the construction of new facilities that minimize emissions. Cleco’s investment reduces existing emissions, which moves us even more rapidly toward our goal of Net Zero emissions by 2050. I applaud Cleco’s initiative, and challenge other businesses in the state to be aggressive in their response to Louisiana’s Climate Action Plan. Doing so will strengthen our environment and our economy, especially in our rural communities.”

Cleco secured a $9 million congressional appropriation, to be administered and disbursed by Louisiana Economic Development, to help defray the cost of a front-end engineering and design (FEED) study. After the study, Cleco plans to raise capital funding of approximately $900 million through tax credits, Department of Energy grants and private equity investment.

“Cleco’s Project Diamond Vault will ensure a clean and sustainable power solution for Cleco customers, while creating and retaining jobs for the communities we serve,” Fontenot said. “In Louisiana, we have the natural resources, the ingenuity, the geology, the people and the infrastructure to transform the power industry as we know it. Cleco is thankful for the support of Gov. Edwards, Sen. Cassidy, Louisiana Economic Development and other Louisiana leaders.”

The FEED study is expected to be complete by the end of 2023. Permitting, which follows an environmental impact and public review process, is expected to be complete during the second half of 2025. Construction would begin immediately thereafter and commercial operations are planned to begin no later than 2028.

It is once again time for area young women to vie for the title of Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival queen.
The Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival and Fair Association, and the Past Queen’s Club have announced a search for that special young woman to carry on the tradition of representing the oldest state-chartered harvest festival. The young woman will be a goodwill ambassador for the Tri-City area and will represent the 87th festival.
The 87th coronation and ball will be held at 7 p.m. Aug. 27 in the Morgan City Municipal Auditorium.
Some of the requirements are:
—All candidates must be at least 18 years old and not more than 23 by Jan. 1, 2023.
—Candidates and their parents shall be residents of east St. Mary Parish or lower St. Martin and Assumption parishes.
—Each candidate should have attended at least their junior and senior year in an east St. Mary Parish high school.
—Candidates shall be high school graduates by not less than one year, shall never have been married, pregnant or given birth to a child. The queen must remain single during her reign. In the event the queen should marry or something may cause her not to be able to represent the festival, the festival shall consider the crown vacated and all privileges and duties of the queen shall revert to one of the crown princesses, at the festival’s choice.
—The queen will travel the state as a goodwill ambassador and will be required to attend 11 festivals selected by the association board, and the Louisiana Association of Fairs and Festivals convention. The new queen is encouraged to attend, when possible, all other festivals and any city functions to which she is invited. Required travel expenses are paid by the festival.
The queen must abide by all rules and regulations of her host festival while attending as a representative of the Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival.
—The queen is also required to attend the Mystick Krewe of Louisianians’ Mardi Gras Ball in Washington, D.C. Before embarking on the trip she will be honored at a luncheon hosted by Gov. John Bel Edwards and first lady Donna Edwards. She will be joined by other queens, and many Louisiana representatives and dignitaries, at the event in Baton Rouge. She must also attend the annual Louisiana Association of Fairs and Festivals convention in Baton Rouge.
—If the parents of the queen should move from the area, the queen must maintain an area residence during the term of her reign.
—The young woman chosen as queen must relinquish all other beauty titles, other than high school or college. She may not enter any beauty contest her year as queen.
—She must conform to all festival regulations as queen and must not conduct herself in any manner other than that befitting of a queen.
Information and applications may be obtained by calling the festival office at 985-385-0703, emailing info@shrimpandpetroleum.org or request may be made to P. O. Box 103, Morgan City, La. 70380.
Deadline for submitting applications to the festival office is 2:30 p.m. Friday, June 3.

The board of Catholic Charities and leadership of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux announced the hiring of Chamon Williams as executive director of CCHT, effective in
early May.

Williams is a native of Houma who began her post-college work career with CCHT soon after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. She joined Catholic Charities in Jackson, Mississippi in 2008, where she has been responsible for their Offices of Violence Against Women, Parish Social Ministry, Catholic Relief Services, Emergency Housing, and Veterans Services.

She assisted in disaster preparedness and response in both the Houma-Thibodaux Diocese and Jackson. Chamon has also supported Catholic Charities agencies in other parts of the country in their disaster relief work. She is well known and respected in the Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (VOAD) community, understanding the importance of
governmental relationships and supporting them through times of disaster.

Williams earned her bachelor of arts degree in criminal justice, with a minor in sociology, from Dillard University in New Orleans in 2005.

"The job of CEO of CCHT is more than just a job for me," she said in a press release. "I see it as a vocation, a calling from God, and an opportunity to do good work in the place I call home, near my family. This is coming full circle for me as I actually grew up on Aycock Street in Houma, across the street from the current CCHT office and St. Lucy Catholic Church, where I volunteered during summers.”

Her family worshiped at the Cathedral of St. Francis de Sales in Houma when she was growing up, and her family now attends Christ the Redeemer in Thibodaux.

“I not only know of Catholic Social Teaching, but I embrace it and am guided by it, especially the respect for human dignity, in both my work and private life,” Chamon added. “It is very
much my moral compass.”

Catholic Charities has been serving the Lafourche, Terrebonne, Grand Isle, and Morgan City communities for more than 40 years. Through programs such as its food banks, thrift stores, St. Lucy's Day Care, Assisi Bridge House, and Individual and Family Assistance, thousands of individuals and families receive the support of Catholic Charities each year

The Franklin Merchants Association in collaboration with St. Mary Chapter of Louisiana Landmarks and the Franklin Main Street Design Committee as well as the Teche Theatre for the Performing arts are gearing up for "Dinner Under the Lampposts" April 30, 6:30 p.m. - 10 p.m.
“Actually we conceived this idea four to five years ago,” Wiltz said. “Prior to COVID. We were supposed to mount it, when we first started talking about ‘Dinner Under the Lamposts’, not just euphemistically but literally dinner under the lampposts. That was maybe in 2019, then 2020 was when COVID hit. We had even thought of doing it during Franklin’s bicentennial too. After we did ‘Ada and the Doc’ at the Teche Theatre, and a memorial for the Loustalot man, we just took it off the stove.”
Wiltz said it was considered to do it during the Christmas holidays “Because Franklin’s Main Street was all beautiful and decorated. But we were kinda like, I don’t know, maybe. So we started talking about and we said if we’re going to do it, we’ll need another year. That was in maybe 2019. And that’s when COVID hit and everything went downhill.”
She said if the Franklin Merchants Association truly, and intentionally, intends to revitalize Franklin, Wiltz said, “This is the time. Additionally we had people moving in, we have Chad Boutte and Steven Mora here, doing a lot of touring things, we have more stores opening on Main Street, it’s starting to take a character that we wanted to take. The Teche Theatre is up and running again...it’s now or never.”
A fundraiser was conceived to help raise money. “To do the things that we do,” she said. “We always coordinated with the city and we have a great mayor who allows us to coordinate with him, and supports what we do in every way that we possible can.”
The association puts on Harvest Moon Festivals, the Art Stroll, a ‘Mingle and Jingle’ during the Christmas holidays, Bayou to Main Marketplace.
“So the question arises, ‘Y’all are raising money to have these events to do what?’ Well, if we are doing these kinds of events, and if we are intentionally revitalizing Franklin and making it a tourist destination, there are certain things we have to pay for...Port-A-Lets, music, waste receptacles, insurance, the trolley rides, sometimes we want certain artists to come in like face painters, and balloons. And while it’s free to the public, there are charges, and we need those funds to help us to that.”
Wiltz said socially, Franklinites go to other communities such as Lafayette, Houma, New Orleans and such, “But we want to make sure that we provide that same opportunities right here, where if you want to go to those other places, that’s great, go...but you don’t have to go. You can go to a movie, go to a festival, a tour, shop locally. There will be opportunities right here.”
The tabletops provided seat six persons. In the event of inclement weather, parish government has agreed to allow participants to gather in the Blevin’s Building.
Chefs will be Willie Gaspard, from Mr. Lester’s Steakhouse and Kevin Polito. There will be a seafood option that will be bronzed Louisiana red snapper, topped with muffaletta tomato relish. The meat option will be braised beef short ribs topped with pickled beet, red onion zucchini slaw. The rest of the entree will be fire roasted red pepper and smoked gouda cheese, roasted garlic Parmesan broccolini, spring salad, roasted red pepper gouda soup, and the desert is a lemon tartlet and bread and butter from Mr. Lester’s, one glass of red or white wine. There will be a cash bar.
For more information, residents and visitors can check with any downtown merchant, who will have tickets on hand, or call Wiltz and 337-828-3441. Deadline is March 15.