New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will fast-track a review of the homes in the Gordon Plaza neighborhood and plans to redevelop the former landfill into a solar power farm.
Gordon Plaza is an upper Ninth Ward neighborhood that was built on a former toxic landfill.
In late 2021, the City and EPA Administrator Regan's team began looking at ways to fund a program to redevelop the land through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Related
The next step for the EPA is the review of the entire site to determine land safety. For the city, the next step includes hiring a third party to assist in the assessment of the properties.
“The City of New Orleans is proud to partner with the EPA to finally bring resolution to the residents of Gordon Plaza,” said Mayor LaToya Cantrell. “After consecutive mayoral administrations left this issue to be resolved by the next generation, my administration is committed to creating a solution that is a win-win-win for the City, for the residents, and for our federal infrastructure and climate goals. Working with our federal partners, we want to appropriately relocate residents who want to move and redevelop the site for clean energy initiatives that increase our resilience and reduce greenhouse gases. The first step is hiring a third party to assist in an assessment of the properties. The RFP for a third party will be out for public bid in the next two weeks."
The EPA outlined its clean environment plan for Louisiana, which also includes deploying mobile air pollution monitors specifically in Mossville, LA., St. John the Baptist Parish, and St. James Parish.
A statement from the EPA reads in part:
In New Orleans’ Gordon Plaza neighborhood, Administrator Regan heard from residents about the impacts of living in the affordable housing development built on the former site of the Agriculture Street Landfill. As part of addressing those concerns, EPA will now expedite a review of the site which was previously slated for review in 2023; the accelerated review will begin in March 2022 and will include 9 homes that were not included in the previous review process. The Agency is taking this step to re-evaluate its previous decision that the land is safe and to communicate the results to the community. In addition, on January 6, 2022, Administrator Regan met with Mayor Cantrell and Dr. Beverly Wright of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) to discuss a shared commitment between EPA and the City of New Orleans to work together on community-based solutions for the residents of Gordon Plaza. The solutions discussed would support relocation of community members off the land, provide economic opportunity for the City, advance clean energy, and lower greenhouse gas emissions in the area. Most importantly, they would ensure the health and safety of Gordon Plaza residents is protected. Administrator Regan and Dr.
Wright committed to continue working closely with Mayor Cantrell and her team to advance these shared goals.
Click here to read the full statement from the EPA.
“I would like to thank the Administrator for assisting the City of New Orleans with their infrastructure issues, as well as initiating first steps toward accountability, especially regarding air quality enforcement, monitoring, and data collection, which I called for back in August,” said Congressman Troy A. Carter, Sr. “The environmental justice actions announced today will allow collection of independent, reliable data that will inform the path forward to better the public health of our community.”