Is Rise St. James Really a Local Grassroots Group?
Rise St. James presents itself as a small, community driven organization fighting petrochemical expansion in Louisiana. Founder Sharon Lavigne has described the group as consisting of about 25 members. On its face, that sounds like a modest grassroots effort. But a closer look raises serious questions about whether this is truly a hyperlocal movement or part of a much larger national campaign targeting the oil and gas industry.
Spoiler alert: it’s the latter.
The organization operates as a fiscally sponsored project of Earth Island Institute, a California based nonprofit that reports tens of millions of dollars in annual revenue. Because of this arrangement, Rise St. James does not file its own Form 990. That means the public cannot easily review its internal financial records, salaries, or detailed expenditures. For a group actively attempting to shape major industrial policy debates, that lack of transparency should concern anyone who values accountability.
Funding connections further complicate the “local” narrative. Rise St. James has benefited from Michael Bloomberg’s $85 million Beyond Petrochemicals campaign, which explicitly aims to block more than 120 proposed petrochemical projects nationwide. Lavigne herself has acknowledged that the Bloomberg money has helped in fighting the Formosa Plastics project.
Additionally, national legal organizations such as Earthjustice have represented the group in lawsuits, and the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic has provided support. These relationships suggest coordination and infrastructure far beyond a small parish-based volunteer group.
Communities deserve honest conversations about jobs, environmental standards, and economic growth. But when a group backed by large national foundations positions itself as purely local, it blurs the line between community advocacy and national political activism. If the goal is to influence public policy and industrial development, play by the same rules as everyone else or risk being ignored.