Nestled between New Orleans and Baton Rouge is a stretch of land dubbed \u201cCancer Alley,\u201d where activists blame high cancer rates on nearby petrochemical plants.<\/span><\/p>\n Several local groups have sprung up to fight these plants, garnering national attention and funding as they rail against the dangers of fossil fuels, not just in Louisiana, but across the country.<\/span><\/p>\n Some of these groups seem powered by the very fossil fuels they oppose.<\/span><\/p>\n A Daily Wire review found that the leaders of three Louisiana-based environmental activist groups \u2014 Rise St. James, the Vessel Project, and the Descendents Project \u2014 take frequent domestic and international trips, jetting around the globe from Europe to the Middle East to Asia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Collectively, top leaders of the groups have taken dozens of international and domestic trips between 2019 and 2025 while hobnobbing with prominent Democrats and global elites, according to a review of social media posts. Several of the groups are also linked to the group Beyond Petrochemicals, an organization founded by climate alarmist and billionaire Michael Bloomberg.<\/span><\/p>\n Activism has opened the door to traveling the wider world for these leaders. One was showered in gifts and treated \u201clike royalty\u201d during a trip to Canada, while another took an excursion to the pyramids during a trip to Egypt for a United Nations Climate conference. Another influencer posted influencer-style videos of the \u201creally nice\u201d private suite she booked for a similar summit.<\/span><\/p>\n These globetrotting ways show how \u201cgrassroots\u201d activist organizations with ties to powerful leftist donor networks can achieve international reach. Bloomberg or one of his nonprofits has promoted or funded each of the three organizations to varying degrees, illustrating his massive influence as a climate donor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n While they crusade against the petrochemical industry, the leaders of the groups have taken a host of international and domestic trips that suggest they may also be addicted to the benefits of fossil fuels.<\/span><\/p>\n Illustration by Daily Wire staff.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Rise St. James<\/b><\/p>\n Rise St. James is an <\/span>organization<\/span><\/a> based in Vacherie, Louisiana, that describes itself as \u201ca faith-based grassroots organization that is fighting for environmental justice as it works to defeat the proliferation of petrochemical industries in St. James Parish, Louisiana.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The organization was started in 2018 and is a fiscally <\/span>sponsored<\/span><\/a> project of the Earth Island Institute, a $30 million per year <\/span>nonprofit<\/span><\/a> based in California. It is <\/span>reportedly<\/span><\/a> planned to become a 501(c)(3) organization in 2023 and <\/span>received<\/span><\/a> a determination letter from the IRS during the summer of 2025.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In 2018, Rise St. James <\/span>successfully<\/span><\/a> mobilized against a $1.25 billion Chinese-owned plastics manufacturing plant that was set to come to the area. That fight was in part funded by Bloomberg. The organization also fought against a $9.4 billion plant from Formosa Plastics with help from Bloomberg.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a very expensive fight,\u201d Rise St. James President Sharon Lavigne <\/span>told<\/span><\/a> The New York Times. \u201cSo that Bloomberg money has helped.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Rise St. James is listed as a partner of Bloomberg\u2019s <\/span>Beyond Petrochemicals<\/span><\/a>, an organization that fights the expansion of the petrochemical industry. Petrochemicals are products made from chemicals from petroleum, natural gas, and coal. They can include things like water bottles, packaging, toys, phone cases, car parts, synthetic rubber (tires), paint, shampoo, medical tubing, disposable gloves, fertilizer, and pesticides.<\/span><\/p>\n While previously acknowledging support from the billionaire Bloomberg, Rise St. James says its struggle is against a billion-dollar industry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHistory has shown that advocating for communities with fewer resources against <\/span>multi-billion-dollar industries often invites criticism and scrutiny,\u201d Rise St. James told The Daily Wire. \u201cUnfortunately, environmental justice movements frequently face efforts to shift attention away from the issues and toward personal attacks or mischaracterizations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Lavigne has taken trips to Italy, Egypt, and Abu Dhabi since 2019, at the same time as she said she would like to see \u201cthe end of fossil fuels.\u201d These trips have been documented on social media posts from Lavigne and her organization. Rise St. James said that \u201cmost\u201d of the trips taken were paid for by whichever organization invited Lavigne.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBecause of this recognition and the importance of the issues facing St. James Parish, Ms. Lavigne is regularly invited by organizations and institutions to share the experiences of residents living in communities impacted by heavy industrial development,\u201d Rise St. James said. \u201cIn most cases, travel associated with these speaking engagements is arranged and paid for by the host institutions or organizations extending the invitation, which is standard practice for invited speakers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Lavigne at 2024 Time 100 Gala: Photo by Taylor Hill\/FilmMagic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In March 2022, Lavigne traveled to A<\/span>bu Dhabi for a Forbes summit dedicated to female leaders, <\/span>according<\/span><\/a> to her Facebook page. She posted multiple <\/span>photos<\/span><\/a> wearing Rise St. James shirts from various sights in the Middle Eastern nation. The event <\/span>featured<\/span><\/a> talks from female celebrities and failed 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Later in 2022, Lavigne <\/span>traveled<\/span><\/a> to Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, for the 2022 United Nations climate conference known as COP27, an event where the government and business elites fly in to lecture the public about greenhouse gas emissions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n At the conference, Lavigne and her team hosted a space that provided \u201ca platform for the global climate justice movement and amplifying the voices of those most impacted by the climate crisis, including representatives from the Global South, the U.S. environmental justice movement, and Indigenous peoples.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Her team reportedly hosted a panel with then-Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan. Rise St. James boasted that the event drew \u201clarge crowds.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n While in Egypt, Lavigne rode a camel and visited the Great Pyramids of Giza, <\/span>according<\/span><\/a> to an Instagram post. The distance from Giza to Sharm El-Sheikh is about 322 miles, or about 5.5 hours of driving.<\/span><\/p>\n In March 2025, Lavigne and her <\/span>granddaughter<\/span><\/a>, Asha Lavigne, an office administrator for Rise St. James, flew to Italy to spend a week in Rome for the <\/span>Taproot Earth\u2019s Frontline Peoples\u2019 Jubilee Convening on Global Climate Reparations. Rise St. James <\/span>said<\/span><\/a> the purpose of the conference was to \u201cenvision climate reparations through collective healing and repair.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Photos posted on Facebook showed Lavigne and a board member of Rise St. James touring outside St. Peter\u2019s Basilica in Vatican City.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Organizers said the conference was \u201ccatalyzed by the Catholic Church\u201d and \u201cmoved past the barriers of language, the challenges of race, the differences of religion and came to agreement around the accountability and repair needed for a just future.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The conference was awash in leftist ideology, with a push against colonialism and calls to challenge \u201cthe political borders that limit our rights and abilities.\u201d It called for the Catholic Church to \u201cadvance a decolonial, re-indigenized ethic of Catholic Social Teaching and practices that recognizes Black and Indigenous spirituality, cultures, and their relationships with nature and share its access to resources and research with these communities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Lavigne took a<\/span> second trip<\/span><\/a> to Italy in September 2025, where she was accompanied by another family member, Shamyra Lavigne-Davey, who was listed as the executive assistant of Lavigne at Rise St. James.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The organization said Lavigne had been \u201cinvited to serve as a visiting professor, lifting voices from Cancer Alley onto the world stage and linking grassroots struggles with global movements for climate and environmental solutions.\u201d The organization added that she was expected to meet with Pope Leo XIV.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Apart from frequently traveling abroad, Lavigne has taken multiple trips to both New York City and Washington, D.C., for climate-related protests, according to social media posts. In February 2024, she and daughter <\/span>Shamyra Lavigne Davey were in D.C. to <\/span>call<\/span><\/a> for an end to exports of liquid natural gas.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Other posts show protests in <\/span>New York City<\/span><\/a> (2019) and D.C. (<\/span>April <\/span><\/a>and <\/span>October<\/span><\/a> 2021) to highlight a few.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Credit: Photo by Jemal Countess\/Getty Images for Repairers of the Breach.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Lavigne is well-connected with influential Democrats. In April 2023, she <\/span>visited<\/span><\/a> the White House for an event with former President Joe Biden on an executive order he signed on \u201cenvironmental justice.\u201d She was again <\/span>pictured<\/span><\/a> with Biden and Bloomberg in September 2024.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n That same month, Lavigne \u201chit the red carpet\u201d for the TIME100 Climate Leadership Forum <\/span>during<\/span><\/a> Climate Week in New York City. She said at the time that \u201cenvironmental justice\u201d was about ensuring that no one, \u201cespecially those of color,\u201d suffered because of where they lived.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Lavigne and her daughter Shamyra traveled to New York City in December 2024 to <\/span>present<\/span><\/a> in front of the <\/span>Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent. Shamyra gave testimony on \u201creparations for climate and environmental harms.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Lavigne and Shmary were back in New York City in April 2025, where they\u00a0attended<\/a> another TIME 100 event, which they described as \u201cwhere global influence meets unstoppable purpose.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n When questioned about the frequent flights, Rise St. James said it was \u201cmisguided\u201d and \u201cmisinformed\u201d to suggest that Lavigne\u2019s use of fossil fuels was hypocritical.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAttempts to frame environmental advocates at Rise St. James as hypocrites for <\/span>using fossil fuels in their daily lives are misguided, misinformed, and reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of the purpose and goals of this movement,\u201d the organization said. \u201cThe work of Rise St. James is not about eliminating everyday energy use overnight. It is about ensuring that communities are protected from harmful industrial pollution and have a meaningful voice in decisions that affect their health, environment, and future.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The Vessel Project<\/b><\/p>\n Another Louisiana-based climate group is the Vessel Project, which <\/span>describes<\/span><\/a> itself as \u201ca grassroots mutual aid, disaster relief, and environmental justice organization\u201d and that it \u201crealizes the intersectionality of the challenges that plague BIPOC communities and works holistically to achieve environmental and climate justice, voting rights, and access to housing, energy, clean water, safe fresh produce, and healthcare.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The Vessel Project, which is also <\/span>promoted<\/span><\/a> by Bloomberg\u2019s Beyond Petrochemicals, is run by Roishetta Ozane, another activist with a penchant for global and domestic travel. The organization is fiscally sponsored by the Institute for Enhanced Equity, which told The Daily Wire it does not provide any funding to the group.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Like Lavigne, Ozane also traveled to Egypt for COP 27, where she spoke and presented, according to a Facebook post. While there, she posted a <\/span>video<\/span><\/a> on Instagram showing her \u201creally nice\u201d Sharm El Sheikh hotel suite, starting with a tour of the bathroom. At the conference, the Vessel Project <\/span>said<\/span><\/a> that Ozane was demanding that Biden declare a climate emergency and \u201cthat our elected officials put an end to the extraction of fossil fuels.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n She flew business class on her return trip, <\/span>according<\/span><\/a> to a social media post.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n According to social media, Ozane also <\/span>planned<\/span><\/a> to travel to Dubai for COP28 to \u201cdemand that the US and other governments phase out fossil fuels.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In a Facebook post from December 2022, Ozane <\/span>said<\/span><\/a> that she traveled to D.C. several times, canvassed in Rehoboth, Delaware, went on a cruise, supported \u201cBIPOC\u201d businesses, and boasted that she could now \u201cofficially say GOOGLE ME,\u201d an apparent reference to her burgeoning importance.<\/span><\/p>\n Credit: Photo by Brian Stukes\/Getty Images.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Social media <\/span>photos<\/span> indicate that the cruise was to Mexico. She also took vacations to Universal Studios in California in <\/span>2024<\/span> and 2025, when she got the <\/span>VIP tour<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In a <\/span>similar post<\/span><\/a> from December 2023, Ozane said she had traveled to a dozen states and four different countries \u2014 Canada, Japan, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Photos of her trips to <\/span>Japan<\/span><\/a> (June 2023) and <\/span>Malaysia<\/span><\/a> (June 2023) show pictures of the food she ate and what she saw.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Traveling to Europe in March 2024, Ozane <\/span>intended<\/span><\/a> to protest at the European Gas Conference in Austria. Ozane said the conference was canceled when organizers \u201cheard we were coming due to the \u2018potential of violence or harm\u2019 from protesters. That means our voices are being heard because how ironic that the companies that are killing us are afraid of us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Ozane did take a selfie inside the Austrian parliament with leftist member of parliament Lukas Hammer. She captioned her Instagram post on the visit with the words that she didn\u2019t come to Austria \u201cjust to \u2018play.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In September 2025, Ozane went to Toronto, Canada, for an anti-Israel protest where people held up signs that said \u201cStop Starving Gaza.\u201d While in Canada, Ozane <\/span>said<\/span><\/a> that she \u201chad the most delicious strawberry short cake from the hotel.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n On her <\/span>second day<\/span><\/a> in Toronto, Ozane said she \u201cfelt like royalty\u201d as she spoke to a group of retailers of Lush Cosmetics North America, a company that makes vegetarian skincare products.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve felt like royalty the entire time I\u2019ve been here from the amazing welcome, great food, standing ovation after my speech and the overload of gifts and products I\u2019m bringing home with me,\u201d she posted on Facebook.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Descendants Project<\/b><\/p>\n The Descendants Project, founded by sisters Joy and Jo Banner, is an <\/span>organization<\/span><\/a> focused on the \u201cintergenerational healing and flourishing of the Black descendant community in the Louisiana river parishes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n One of the group\u2019s <\/span>goals<\/span><\/a> is to \u201celiminate the narrative violence of plantation tourism and champion the voice of the Black descendant community while demanding action that supports the total well-being of Black descendants.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The construction of the Descendants Project headquarters was <\/span>funded<\/span><\/a> in part by the Bloomberg Family Foundation.<\/span><\/p>\n Like their fellow Louisiana-area climate activists, the Banners have jetted around the world to protest fossil fuels from Europe and Asia to Africa and South America.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In August 2022, the Banners <\/span>traveled<\/span><\/a> to Geneva, Switzerland, where they discussed \u201cCancer Alley\u201d and \u201cenvironmental racism in Louisiana.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Traveling with Beyond Petrochemicals executive director Heather McTeer Toney, the Banners <\/span>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2026\/04\/Untitled-design-52.jpg\")
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