Shut down landfill, groups ask judge

An environmental group and a coalition of eastern New Orleans residents have asked a federal judge to shut down a newly permitted construction landfill adjacent to the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge and not far from the neighborhood of Village de l'Est.

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U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman will hear arguments today at 2 p.m. on the motion for a temporary restraining order filed by the Louisiana Environmental Action Network and Citizens for a Strong New Orleans East. If Feldman decides to grant the order, the landfill, operated by Waste Management of Louisiana at 16600 Chef Menteur Highway would be temporarily shuttered until the judge rules on the groups' request for a permanent injunction. The landfill received permission to accept construction debris less than two weeks ago.

The two groups, which are represented by lawyer Joel Waltzer, sued the Army Corps of Engineers because the corps issued an "emergency" permit allowing the landfill to open in an area classified in the federal Clean Water Act as "other water" of the United States.

Normally, the corps takes months to review such applications, and corps officials have said they will abide by the Clean Water Act by completing a more thorough review over the next few months. But they said they chose to issue an emergency permit because of the necessity of getting a nearby landfill open quickly, and because they didn't anticipate denying the permit in the long run.

The suit claims that in issuing an emergency permit, the corps violated both the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, which require "review and analysis" of impacts as well as public notice and an opportunity for public comment. None of those things occurred, the suit says.

The lawsuit does not challenge the state Department of Environmental Quality's decision to issue emergency permission for the new landfill, nor does it challenge Mayor Ray Nagin's decision to use emergency powers to grant a conditional use to the site, though Waltzer and members of the community have strongly criticized both actions.

Waste Management's application was given speedy approval by state regulators not long after they settled a suit LEAN brought involving the nearby Old Gentilly Landfill, which was reopened after Hurricane Katrina, also under emergency provisions. The settlement resulted in Old Gentilly taking far less debris than it had in the early days of the cleanup.

Chuck Carr Brown, assistant secretary of DEQ, has said on numerous occasions that more landfill space is needed in the eastern part of New Orleans because of the large volume of debris, and the expectation that many homes will be torn down.

Leaders of the community protested the proposed Chef Menteur landfill at City Hall several weeks ago, and petitioned Nagin to rescind his executive order granting the zoning exception. On Tuesday, members of the Southern Christian Leadership Council attended an anti-landfill rally held at Mary Queen of Vietnam Catholic Church, the heart of the Village de l'Est community.

Waltzer said LEAN decided to challenge the corps in federal court rather than taking on the other parties in state courts because it allowed for a much quicker hearing on the matter.

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Gordon Russell can be reached at grussell@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3347.