Officials reject plan to close post-Katrina emergency landfill

Lawmakers have rejected a plan by environmentalists to close the Chef Menteur Construction and Demolition landfill in New Orleans East, according to a report in the Advocate newspaper. The landfill, which sits adjacent to the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge, was opened by Waste Management and the City of New Orleans to speed up debris removal following Hurricane Katrina. Environmental groups suggest that the debris collected during daytime hours be separated at night and delivered to licensed landfills that were approved before Katrina, but officials maintain that it will be costly to add lighting to the landfill and that collecting debris at night may be dangerous for workers, according to the paper.