CANTRELLE, DA TANGLE IN EMAIL SWAP

A potential dangerous situation which was later controlled at the Cyprien pump station work site: sparked an email tete a tete between Lafourche Parish President Jimmy Cantrelle and Lafourche District Attorney Kristine Russell.

In a March 12 email, where Cantrelle addresses Russell as well as the Lafourche Pariah Council, the pariah president writes that workers attempting to cut a pipeline to remove it found volatile and explosive chemicals. He said that the job-site was shut down immediately

The pipeline is one of the last roadblocks in getting the pump station completed. It sits on a parish right-of-way.

At the beginning of his administration, Cantrelle chose to refurbish the fecility. rather than rebuild the entire station, because engineers from T. Bak-

er Smith estimated a refurbishment would cost about $1 million, a far cry from the $3.5 million earmarked.

The Cyprien pump station sits in District 5, but drains District 4.

It is located on Bayou Folse Road near Lockport.

Within the email, Cantrelle chides Russell and the council for not taking his recommendations in lining up proper backup in the event there was a problem in removing the pipeline.

He said that because the job site had to be evacuated and shut down, “we are incurring penalties of $8,000 per day.”

He also expresses that while he is committed to doing what is best for the people of Lafourche Parish, he feels as if the whole situation, “was manipulated and exploited for political use against me and my team.”

In her email back to Cantrelle, Russell first tells Cantrelle that she takes issue with his assertion that his team was manipulated and exploited for political views, since she was under the assumption, “that we are all on the same team.”

“It appears as though the progress of this project has been impeded every step of the way and this latest issue is no exception,” Russell writes.

“It is my understanding that the project has not been halted and we are not incurring penalties,” she continues.

“Actually the issue with the residue in the pipeline was addressed by allowing the pipe to vent overnight,” she wrote.

“Regardless, no one we have spoken to sees any reason for this to delay the project. The recommendations you have made in your letter would no doubt lead delay the project and lead to the penalties you have erroneously stated we are already incurring.”

Russell tells Cantrelle that for the remainder of his term, it is her hope that he would “refrain from acting on legal advice from someone who has neither the written authority nor the expertise to provide legal services on behalf of the parish.

“All that’s required is that you utilize the parish’s legal advisor for legal issues,” she wrote.

“I want to be clear. I have neither the duty nor the desire to micromanage the parish president. I cannot prevent you from consulting with whomever you wish on parish matters. I cannot prevent you from acting on any advice you receive.”

“However, you should be cognizant of the fact that if you choose to consult with and accept advice of a legal nature from anyone other than the parish’s statutory legal advisor, you do so at your own peril.”

She ends her email, which is also dated March 12 by recalling numerous occasions where the two have discussed that she is the only authorized legal adviser for the Parish of Lafourche.

“I will continue to fulfill my statutory as such,” Russell wrote.

‘I cannot prevent you from acting on any advice you receive.’