DNR gives permit for controversial wastewater facility

Despite the opposition of hundreds of concerned citizens and numerous organizations, the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) approved an application by FAS Environmental to build a wastewater transfer facility on the Belle River levee just before the boat landing on Hwy. 997.
Sometime before the FAS plan became public in early 2015, the company had asked the St. Martin Parish Planning and Zoning Commission to rezone a portion of the Belle River levee from residential to heavy industrial for the purpose of building this transfer site. The location is directly across the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) from two existing injection wells in the Basin. FAS Environmental claimed wastewater fluids could be sent to the site by tanker truck and then to the injection wells via pipeline more economically and safer from this location than from their current location across from the Settoon shipyard on Hwy. 70.
The Commission rejected the request by FAS and a few weeks later the St. Martin Parish Council upheld the zoning commission recommendation and officially declined the rezoning request.
Rather than appeal through the courts, FAS submitted an application to DNR’s Office of Conservation, which approved the request as of May 7, effectively overriding the parish authority in zoning matters.
What happens next is to be determined by St. Martin Parish and FAS. No public statement has yet to be made from either entity. Meanwhile, opposition continues from residents, Tulane Environmental Law Clinic, the Sierra Club, the Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, the Green Army, (Wilma) Subra Company, and state Rep. Sam Jones.