In the face of increasing public health concerns, Louisiana passed a law in 1948 to prohibit the operation of open-air landfills in highly populated areas. [8] However, New Orleans’ city officials sidestepped this law and continued operations at…

By 1985, just four years after the first residents moved into Gordon Plaza, state environmentalists recommended testing soil and air in the Gordon Plaza subdivision to determine the extent of hazardous wastes underneath the houses that were built…

In the 1970s, under the administrations of Mayors “Moon” Landrieu and his successor “Dutch” Morial, the city planned and built housing for elderly and low-income families on the former site of Agriculture Street Landfill (ASL). The city of New…

Through the 1950s, residents neighboring Agriculture Street Landfill (ASL) suffered due to improper landfill operations. Numerous reports detail horrible stenches, pest infestations, and smoke emanating from ASL. Spontaneous combustion “commonly”…

Agriculture Street Landfill (ASL) opened in 1909 to accommodate trash produced by New Orleanians. ASL was situated on 95 acres of undeveloped swampland and bounded by Abundance Street, Industry Street, and the tracks of the Northeastern Railroad…