Belle River residents and Parish Council vs. FAS and DNR?

Parish officials are girding themselves for a legal battle with an oilfield-waste disposal company and possibly the state’s Office of Conservation over a stretch of Atchafalaya Basin levee in lower St. Martin.
The Parish Council Tuesday, June 3, passed a resolution opposing the issuance of a state permit for a waste transfer station on the batture of the levee near the community of Belle River.
FAS Environmental Services applied for the permit Monday, June 2, despite the fact that back in April the St. Martin Parish Planning and Zoning Board recommended against rezoning the property to accommodate the transfer station.
The matter was expected to come before the council, sitting as the board of adjustment, this month. But rather than appeal the zoning board’s initial recommendation, FAS is now taking the position that no zoning change is necessary.
And Commissioner of Conservation James Welsh tends to agree with that position, said the parish’s legal adviser, Chester Cedars.
Cedars said that in a telephone conversation, Welsh “mirrored” the opinion of the lawyers for FAS that since the parish’s “woodlands” zoning designation allows for oil and gas extraction, storage and transfer facilities, the oilfield waste transfer station should also be allowed.
“It’s not an unreasonable position, it’s just, in my view, wrong,” Cedars said.
The zoning ordinance specifies “oil and gas,” not “waste” under woodlands, Cedars said, while it specifically addresses oilfield waste as permitted under the industrial designation FAS has originally sought.
“We can legally defend our position,” he said.
There was no representative of FAS at the meeting Tuesday.
A number of Belle River residents who oppose the waste transfer station were in the audience. Several of them told the zoning board in April that they fear the waste transfer station will open the door for more heavy industry on the levee. They say that one facility alone will bring the equivalent of one tanker truck every 15 minutes, around the clock, on the Levee Highway, La. 997, which is two lanes, narrow, and with little or no shoulder.
“We are going to stand united,” said Councilman Carroll Delahoussaye, who represents the area.
FAS currently barges oilfield wastes from a terminal on La. 70 in Belle River to a transfer facility on the river.
“This does not deprive the company of the opportunity to do business,” said Cedars. He said that strengthens the parish’s position in the event of a court fight.
Meanwhile, he recommended that the council send copies of its resolution to the governor, the head of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, and the legislative delegation as well as the Commissioner of Conservation, which is an office under DNR.
“You know the old saying about the squeaky wheel,” Cedars said. “Well, I think you need to squeak.”