“This is insanity”: Vernon man battles waste transfer plant in neighborhood

VERNON PARISH, La. (KALB) — What began as a peaceful retirement for a retired Navy firefighter spiraled into a years-long battle over homeownership, property rights and what legally constitutes a public nuisance.

For decades, a garbage transfer facility for the Leesville and Fort Polk areas has created what local resident Dean Hebert described as unbearable conditions for his family and surrounding neighbors. In a multi-generational dispute, starting with his father, the Hebert family’s push to have a Waste Connections relocated away from their neighborhood has been at a ‘stalemate’.

“That one day out of ten I’m talking about, those nine days we’re stuck in this house like prisoners… Our pets pretty much suffer because of us not being able to tend to them like we should three or four times a day. It’s terrible.”

The History of the Facility

Originally established in 1992 by waste company Enviroclean Systems Inc, the waste transfer plant has been at the center of numerous complaints by neighboring residents over the last 33 years about unwanted odors, leachate, and local environmental contamination. Hebert recalled several incidents of law enforcement and DEQ callouts to the facility under Enviroclean’s ownership, citing the complaints. “It started out as a little mole hill here on Fort Polk, just dumping,” Hebert recounted. “It wasn’t much, just dumping the little square Dempsey dumpsters in a Fort Polk landfill.”

In 2018, the facility changed owners, with Waste Connections renewing the facility’s permits and land ownership. Following several complaints from Dean Hebert, the Vernon Parish Police Jury was notified that the company was “exploring options” of relocation, but no result came of it.

“[We] went to several [police jury] meetings and nothing ever came of them,” Hebert explained. “We got some stop signs put in, and a dangerous intersection sign that got knocked over by an 18-wheeler.”

Dean Hebert’s Complaints about the facility

Mimicking complaints from the 90s, Hebert said the transfer plant ultimately ‘robs’ both him and his family of the right to enjoy their own private residential property. He cited several deep-seated issues directly caused by the facility:

• ‘Lingering’ garbage odors
• Dust clouds that carry unwanted odors from the facility to his own property.
• Excessive noise from the facility’s day-to-day operations
• Impeding of traffic due to proximity to the facility

Hebert’s issues over roads stems from their purpose as public goods designed for a residential area and are not wide enough to allow the facility’s semi-trailer trucks to maneuver safely. Hebert recalled two previous incidents of the vehicles tipping over into his property. “They’ve flipped two of them [semi-trucks] over on [my property],” Dean emphasized. “One way in, one way out, we have no emergency access road for those people.”

Dean says he believes the facility additionally attracts unwanted wildlife and creates health hazards borne from dust clouds and noise pollution created by the plant’s typical operations.

“You get a lot of roaches. You get a lot of rats. You get a lot of flies,” Hebert said. “Not only that, we get possums, [raccoons], and constantly bobcats, animals. They smell this area, and they come here.”

Dean recalled planting a line of trees in the 1990s to create a ‘barrier’ between his property and the facility. ”If it wasn’t for these trees, they would literally be choking us out,” Hebert said. “The trees are catching some of it.”

“The smell does get pretty bad,” a neighbor wishing to remain anonymous told KALB.

On several occasions, Hebert said he has attempted to retaliate against the noise pollution, creating his own form of ‘noise’ by discharging a firearm into the air. In one altercation, law enforcement arrested him on the alleged charges of one count of Aggravated Assault with a Firearm and one count of Illegal Discharge of a Weapon.

“I mean, you got 18-wheelers that are running people off the road, you got the smell to contend with, you got the noise, then you got, at three o’clock in the morning, the guys coming in to go to work, booming their music.”

Dean’s “Public Nuisance” Regulatory Complaints

After filing several complaints to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Hebert turned to local parish leaders, asking for rezoning of the plant and new speed limits in his neighborhood.

“There’s not enough voters back here for them to really give a damn about,” Hebert said when asked if he felt heard by local officials.

KALB’s review of Vernon Parish’s records found no regulatory zoning map, leaving Hebert with no clear local resolution.

After a personal review of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality’s regulations, Hebert began citing a regulation that requires solid waste transfer trucks to be covered at all times, except during loading and unloading. This is to prevent rain from reaching transported waste, inhibit access to waste by pests, minimize odors, and to “not create a nuisance.”

“The bodies of vehicles used to collect or transport all other solid waste shall be covered at all times, except during loading and unloading, in a manner that prevents rain from reaching waste, inhibits access by rodents and insects, prevents waste from falling or blowing from the vehicle, minimizes escape of odors, and does not create a nuisance.”

In Hebert’s personal phone footage, trucks containing waste can be seen uncovered, with pests and rain having clear access to the waste.

“I would like to let everybody in the state of Louisiana know right here and right now that that business is a nuisance. It is both a public and a private nuisance.”

Hebert then contacted state Representative Charles “Chuck” Owen for assistance.

Correspondence between State Rep. Owen and LDEQ obtained by KALB shows the department argue that the regulation Hebert cited is too open to interpretation. A LDEQ representative later told KALB the regulation is reserved for “outrageous circumstances, and Dean’s complaints are too hard to argue in court.”

Additionally, LDEQ stated the facility is conducting several ‘courtesy’ mitigation efforts to address Hebert’s complaints, such as the placement of a fence tarp to block dust and the usage of a deodorizer to limit unwanted odors.

“Those tarps have no meaningful effect on dust or smell, and are being done out of a courtesy in our eyes.”

Why Hebert feels “trapped” and his message to others

Hebert said the facility has lowered his property value significantly, preventing him from “cutting his losses”, saying he’s called property assessors to review his land. “They won’t give me half what my house is worth,” he said.

Labelling his ‘war’ with his neighbor across the street as the result of a local zoning blunder, Hebert wants his experiences to be a warning to others.

“I just think people need to be aware of what’s going on and how fast this can grow from a molehill into a mountain. If you see something like this in your neighborhood, please do not hold up on it… because trust me, they’re not going to stop.”

KALB spoke with the transfer facility’s regional representative, who declined to comment on the story. Attempts to reach Hebert’s police jury representative, James “Jim” Tuck, were unsuccessful.

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