New Orleans Mayor Orders Landfill to Close

Date: August 13, 2006

Source: News Room

Mayor Ray Nagin and New Orleans city attorneys prepared a cease-and-desist order to be delivered Monday, August 14th to the Chef Menteur Highway landfill operated by Waste Management of Louisiana. It is unclear whether this action would cause revocation of the landfill's state permit. It is the policy of the state Department of Environmental Quality, who issued the state permit six months ago, to have support from local elected officials for state-approved landfills. However, this is not law and Gerard Sonnier, a Waste Management lawyer, has said that the company plans to continue operating the plant until Katrina cleanup efforts have ended. The company has sued the state to do so. Marc Ehrhardt, a Waste Management spokesman, said that without this landfill, 'the debris that sits on the curbs today will stay there for months...maybe even years.' An alternative landfill is more than 20 miles away in Jefferson Parish's West Bank, an expensive haul that could lead to illegal dumping.

Sign up to receive our free Weekly News Bulletin