People in Cade are putting their foot down on a proposed expansion of their local landfill.
"They got an odor, and I know I'm inhaling some bad stuff, and I don't allow my grandchildren to play out here, especially when they're working," said Earl Walker's home is across the street from the landfill.
This is something he's had to become accustomed to.
"Trucks in and out all during the day, if you wanna sleep in 7:30, or 8 o'clock you gotta get up from the noise.”
Greenpoint, INC, owns the landfill.
In March Greenpoint's General Manager Sean Day requested a solid waste permit modification application, saying the landfill would reach capacity within a year, and asked to increase existing height.
A few blocks away from the site, David Pugh's kitchen stores years of public files between the Lousiana Department of Environmental Quality and Greenpoint, INC.
"He claims he has less than a year because he comes to full capacity,” Pugh said.
“He wants to change the rules of the permit, so he can expand his dumpsite.”
Over the years Pugh accumulated the company's violations from the department's field interviews.
"But the unacceptables they've been finding is tires, there's a jug of oil found in there,” Pugh said.
“You’re not supposed to have furniture, bicycles, junk. That's not supposed to be there.”
Violations listed in an inspection in April include items such as buckets, plastic containers and a container of motor oil.
"The other thing we keep finding is the air, the dust keeps blowing offsite,” Pugh said.
“The smell, and then what I believe is lack of cover. The garbage that they're supposed to have covered it gets exposed too often."
Day said incidental items are separated and removed from the landfill daily and the company will continue the same process they always do.
Last week at a St. Martin Parish Government meeting members of the community asked councilwoman Carla Jean Batiste for a resolution to request the Department of Environmental Quality to give Cade residents a public hearing.
Walker said that dust collects on the outside of his home.
"All the dust be flying here and I have to wash my house at least twice a year,” Walker said.
“And also the breathing, the air. You always feel like you got sinus problems.”
Day said they water the landfill several times a day, and they try to keep it contained on the site.
I reached out to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality for comment and have not heard back.
