The resolution to stop the open tray burn promised by state Rep. Gene Reynolds has gone through the legislature with flying colors.
It has now been sent to the Louisiana Secretary of State, he says. However, it’s only good for one year.
“This will get us through until next year, and there will have to be a bill,” he said. “I did it just to get us through this next year.”
He says this way they will have plenty of time to work on a bill to stop the open tray burn method of munitions disposal at Camp Minden and across the state of Louisiana.
The resolution came about after a public meeting in November when all the agencies working to dispose of the millions of pounds of M6 propellant told the public it was a safe method. The public did not agree and the community pushed the Environmental Protection Agency to sponsor a dialogue committee tasked to come up with an alternate method of disposal.
After a month of discussion, the committee suggested six different methods other than the open tray burn. Explosive Service International was the bid chosen out of 10 and the selected method is the contained burn.
Following the dialogue committee’s recommendations, a citizens advisory group was formed to oversee and allow community input into the process of the disposal as it takes place. They meet once per month with EPA officials to keep the public informed as to the ongoing decisions and processes.
