Hearing Feb. 1 on Basin oilfield waste transfer site

A legal challenge to the construction of an oilfield waste transfer station in the Atchafalaya Basin at Belle River, in lower St. Martin Parish, will come before District Judge Wilson Fields here Monday, Feb. 1.
Opposing the FAS Environmental expansion is the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic representing Belle River residents, the Atchafalaya Basinkeeper organization and LEAN (Louisiana Environmental Action Network).
The plaintiffs are challenging a permit given by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to FAS for the purpose of expanding their oil waste facility in the Belle River area of the Atchafalaya Basin. The expansion permit was approved by the DNR despite the continued opposition of St. Martin Parish Government, is the zoning entity for the levee at the proposed site.
When the parish declined to rezone the property to fit the proposed FAS facility, the company took the position that rezoning was not necessary after all, applied for and received a permit from DNR.
Belle River residents have said they oppose the waste transfer station because they fear the 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.
FAS currently barges oilfield wastes from a terminal on La. 70 in Belle River to a transfer facility on the river.
The hearing will be held in Courtroom 7101, 19th Judicial District Court building, 300 North Blvd. Baton Rouge, at 9 a.m.