The good news: Dozens of new gas wells at the Jefferson Parish Sanitary Landfill will capture smelly gas emissions and reuse it at a nearby gas plant.
The bad news: Drilling the wells will cause more smelly gas to escape in the short term until the wells are finished.
Jefferson Parish has contracted with the neighboring landfill to build and operate a gas capturing system to mitigate the smell of escaping methane and hydrogen sulfide.
These gasses are dangerous in concentrated levels which have been found at the Jefferson Parish Sanitary Landfill site.
WWL-TV reports River Birch Landfill was awarded a $5-million dollar contract to repair the Parish landfill's gas wells and install new ones along with 10-miles of piping to move the captured gas to their gas plant for processing where it is then put into the Atmos Energy pipeline.
River Birch will share 12% of their gas sales to Atmos with the Parish.
Meanwhile, drilling of the wells will take about three weeks to complete with another round of well drilling to take place in February.
Consultant Kris Carlson says the drilling of new wells will mean odorous conditions will escalate during construction. But, River Birch will install vacuums and use odor-neutralizing mist to prevent the smell from being overwelming.
It's been two years since residents across the river Harahan and River Ridge began complaining about the foul smells began to permeate the communities causing headaches, skin irritation and itchy eyes.