04/14/2006

Associated Press

Despite vocal opposition by residents and environmentalists, the state will allow the opening of a new construction landfill in eastern New Orleans that will be located adjacent to a national wildlife refuge.

The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality on Thursday approved the Chef Menteur disposal facility — located near the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge.

The Army Corps of Engineers said the site also will get emergency authorization under the federal Clean Water Act to begin accepting waste. The site could take as much as 6.5 million cubic yards of debris, officials said.

Approval from the corps and DEQ was the last remaining regulatory hurdle. But officials from Waste Management of Louisiana, which will operate the landfill, could not say Thursday when the facility will be ready to accept waste.

Lawyer Robert Wiygul, who represents the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, said a suit was likely.

"We know it's against the wishes of the community and the City Council," he said. "It's hard to find anyone who's for it except DEQ and Waste Management."

The new landfill grew out of a settlement of a lawsuit that forced a reduction in the amount of waste dumped at a landfill in the Gentilly section of New Orleans.

Leaders of a Vietnamese community in eastern New Orleans held a demonstration against the new landfill, resulting in the City Council asking Mayor Ray Nagin to rescind a zoning waiver that permits the dump.

But Nagin said the landfill is "three miles from the nearest home."

"If we don't do this, it will take three years to dispose of all the debris. If they (the council) have a better alternative, I'm all ears,'"

The Rev. Vien Nguyen, a leader of the Vietnamese community, said the site is less than a mile from apartments.

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Information from: The Times-Picayune, http://www.timespicayune.com