St. Tammany Landfills, Today and Tomorrow – What Can Citizens Do To Influence the Future?
Tammany Together To Hold Panel Discussion with Key Stakeholders at General Membership Meeting, Monday, August 10, 2009

The Slidell Landfill is St. Tammany’s only permitted Construction and Demolition (C&D) landfill. Under its current permits, the landfill is required to stop accepting C&D waste in January 2010 and to close by September 2010. Recently, the owners requested various permit extensions and renewals from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) that could allow the landfill to continue operating for up to ten more years.

The St. Tammany Parish Government recently received a Solid Waste Implementation Plan from its consultants recommending a new C&D landfill as part of a larger waste handling complex called an Eco Park Solid Waste Management Facility, to be located somewhere within the parish.

The permitting process for a new C&D landfill is typically three years, and permitting for the other components of the Eco Park will take even longer. This raises a number of issues. Now that the parish government has a draft of a waste management plan, what are the next steps? If the Slidell Landfill is required to close as scheduled, where will C&D waste be disposed of while a new landfill is being permitted and built? When and how will St. Tammany residents get an opportunity to participate in discussions with LDEQ and parish government regarding the requests to extend the operation of the Slidell Landfill and the scope, location, and cost of a new facility?

Tammany Together has assembled a panel of key stakeholders to discuss these issues. The panel includes Parish President Kevin Davis; Parish Council member Gene Bellisario, who chairs the Council's Solid Waste Study Committee; Cheryl Nolan, Assistant Secretary, Office of Environmental Services, LDEQ; and Beau Brock, Assistant to the Secretary, LDEQ.

The panel discussion will be held at Tammany Together’s General Membership Meeting on Monday, August 10, 2009. The meeting is open to the public, and all St. Tammany residents interested in these critical issues are urged to attend. The meeting will be held at the North Shore Unitarian Universalist Church located at 28662 Krentel Road, just north of the intersection of I-12 and Highway 434 (I-12 Exit 74) in Lacombe. Doors will open at 6:00 PM, and the meeting will begin at 6:30 PM. A map showing the location of the meeting is available at http://www.tammanytogether.org/files/NSUUC.jpg

Please plan to attend this important meeting.

Your Tammany Together Board of Directors