Louisiana DEQ Will Abide By C&D Landfill Decision

The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has promised to abide by whatever decision local officials make about the Chef Menteur construction and demolition debris landfill in New Orleans. However, a DEQ official has issued a warning in a letter to New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and City Council President Oliver Thomas that closing the landfill will slow the city’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina, according to a report in the Times-Picayune (New Orleans).

Nagin signed an order to not to renew the controversial landfill’s permit earlier this month. The site, which was opened in April to handle hurricane debris, has raised some residents’ concern because it is located near the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge.