DANIEL TYLER GOODEN / L’Observateur / November 18, 2000

VACHERIE – Belmont Fleetings, a mid-stream barge cleaning company, hasapplied for permits to locate just upriver of the St. James Parish east bankwater treatment plant.

In his president’s report during this week’s St. James Parish Council meeting,Dale Hymel said the Department of Environmental Quality will be conducting apublic hearing on Nov. 30 regarding the company.

Belmont Fleeting’s facility would allow barges to be cleaned and rinsed, withthe water going back into the Mississippi River. It’s unknown what kind ofbarges they would be or what they would carry, said Hymel.

A similar company tried to locate in the town of Lutcher, but it was shotdown by the local citizens, said Hymel. The public hearing will be held at theConvent courthouse, Nov. 30 at 6 p.m.

Hymel also stated that IMC Agrico, Uncle Sam plant, was again cutting backproduction. Fifty full-time contractors were being laid of, said Hymel. Themanagement is continuing to meet and reevaluate the situation, he added.

Mike Tullos, with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, updatedthe council on the Lac Des Allemands River Basin Initiative. The initiative islooking to work with nature to improve drainage and flooding problems, thehealth of the cypress forests and the water quality of the swamps.

The River Parishes, Assumption, Ascension and Lafourche parishes as well asmultiple government and community agencies have all combined resourcesfor this project. The initiative will continue to study the basin to improve thelife of both the swamp and the citizens living around it.

A special meeting regarding the parish budget was scheduled by the councilfor Nov. 27, when the council will meet at the Convent courthouse at 6 p.m.to allow for public comment regarding the budget.

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