River Birch’s application to expand its landfill in Avondale was met with strong opposition during a public hearing on Tuesday, with many residents citing air quality, traffic, and property value concerns as reasons to stop the development.
The most talked about concern was how the expansion would affect the health of locals in Avondale, Waggaman and Westwego, as many community members said the air already has a rotten egg smell that causes headaches, asthma, and anxiety.
“The main issue is our neighborhood is the forgotten neighborhood,” said Lynette D. Wallace, Westwego resident of 58 years, “No one cares about our area. This is the dumping ground for everything. Everything. And we don’t have any voice.”
The proposal involves incorporating the adjacent Greater New Orleans landfill into the footprint of River Birch Landfill. River Birch would dispose of up to 50,000 wet tons per week and 2,600,000 wet tons per year of residential, industrial, commercial, and C&D waste from all parishes and U.S. states.
“This is not going to change anything that we’re currently doing on the landfill,” said Billy Simmens, President of River Birch LLC, “We’re simply going to be working, moving our operations from the River works side to the GNOL side.”
Simmens claimed that the modern updates to the landfill would not worsen odors.
The Louisiana Department of Environmental Air Quality (LDEQ) has the final say in the matter, and said public comment is open until late May.
River Birch said they expect to hear a final decision in a few months.
Although some commentators said they believe LDEQ has already made up their mind.
“What they did today is already done,” said Wallace, “This is our community, and we don’t deserve this.”
READ MORE:Residents push back against proposed Landfill expansion
