For Government Archives

Two long time DEQ employees received prestigious awards for service at the recent Louisiana Solid Waste Association's Environmental Partnership of Business, Industry and Government Conference in Lafayette.

Today, the Louisiana Environmental Crimes Task Force completed the arrests of seven individuals for knowingly filing or maintaining false public records with DEQ in connection with the vehicle emissions program. Investigators within the Criminal Investigation Division of DEQ, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Public Safety conducted the multi-agency investigation.

On March 18, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued an order through its Region 6 office in Dallas to the U.S. Department of the Army to address 15 million pounds of abandoned explosives and propellant stored on the grounds of Camp Minden in Minden.

DEQ will host four free training sessions across the state on Air Permitting 201: Understanding the Details. These sessions will provide more in depth information on air permitting in Louisiana. Participants will learn how the air regulations apply to the development of a permit. Specific examples will be discussed and will cover samples of each typical document included in the permits.

Today, DEQ hosted the Environmental Leadership Awards. DEQ Secretary Peggy Hatch was joined by Representative Gordon Dove, House Natural Resources and Environment Committee chair, to recognize environmental achievements. New and existing members of ELP were commended for their voluntary pollution prevention efforts and community environmental outreach initiatives. The ceremony highlighted projects that went above and beyond regulatory compliance to substantially improve the quality of the environment.

The City of Kenner is working hard with various offices at the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality to address its historical sewer problems related to both collection and treatment systems.

A review copy of the draft Louisiana Nutrient Management Strategy is now available and the state is accepting public comment on it until Jan. 31, 2014. Louisiana Nutrient Management Strategy: Protection, Improvement, and Restoration of Water Quality in Louisiana's Water Bodies focuses on factors such as nitrogen and phosphorus that may impact local water bodies as well as contribute to seasonal low dissolved oxygen in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality has compiled a list of commonly used environmental acronyms and it is now available on the DEQ website. Understanding the technical terms and abbreviations connected with environmental regulation and protection can be difficult. The Acronym Directory is an alphabetical list of acronyms commonly used by DEQ and other state agencies as it relates to matters concerning environmental protection and DEQ-related operations. This directory should make it easier to decipher documents and technical writing