The Housing Authority of New Orleans has begun a $5.4 million operation to remove what could be 60,000 tons of contaminated dirt from the B.W. Cooper site in Central City not far from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. After lengthy financial delays, 250 new, mixed-income apartments are now under construction at the Cooper, which recently was renamed Marrero Commons in honor of longtime resident President Yvonne Marrero.
The pollutants in the upper 2 feet of soil include hazardous metals, pesticides and pollutants derived from the combustion of petroleum and other fossil fuels and were discovered as HANO’s developer conducted the environmental tests required for all federally financed new construction, said Robin Keegan, a senior adviser for redevelopment for the agency.
After the soil is removed, the site will be remediated by installing a clay cap with a geotextile cover over affected areas and topping that with clean river silt. But the scope of the site’s pollution will not be known until all samples of soil removed from the hot spots are tested, in a process overseen by the state Department of Environmental Quality, Keegan said.
Image: Eliot Kamenitz, The Times-Picayune
(Source: nola.com)
