EMCON/OWT will supply factory-trained and certified technicians to service pump systems around the United States. EPG pump systems are now operating in more than 500 landfills.

Richard A. Peluso, EMCON/ OWT's president, said, "We are excited about our new arrangement, which brings together EPG…with EMCON/ OWT, one of the industry's leading suppliers of landfill design, landfill gas construction and operations and maintenance services. Serving as a field support representative is another way we fulfill our mission of being a full service solid waste provider."

According to John Hasslen, EPG's president, "This is a cost-effective, innovative way to help our customers stay in compliance with federal regulations. Years of experience in the field have convinced EPG that proper maintenance of our pumps is essential to ensure continued environmental compliance and extend pump system life."

The Shaw Group Inc., headquartered in Baton Rouge, is a global provider of comprehensive services to the power, process, environmental and infrastructure industries.

Empire Scaffold purchased by consortium

Empire Scaffold LLC was recently purchased by a consortium of owners consisting of David Starkey, Robert Kusch, Ernest Sanders, Tommy Graham, Clarence Cheatham and Coy Smith. Together, the team brings approximately 135 years of experience to the company.

Empire Scaffold has locations in Baton Rouge, Monroe and Houston, Texas. Together, these locations provide full-service scaffolding rental, erection and dismantling services to the petrochemical and pulp and paper industries throughout the Gulf Coast, as well as specialized commercial projects.

Most of the members of this group were involved in bringing the first system scaffold into the United States, and members of Empire Scaffold's management team were also among the first to provide jobsite tracking for scaffolding work.

Applicant seeks major airport in Louisiana wetlands

The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers has begun to consider a wetlands application to build a privately owned international airport that would involve 8,153 acres just west of New Orleans.

The applicant, St. Charles International Airport LLC of Houston, is proposing a project in east St. Charles Parish. Its boundaries would be Louis Armstrong International Airport to the east and the Bonnet Carre Spillway to the west. The boundary on the south would be Airline Drive (US 61) and to the north, Lake Pontchartrain.

The main airport facilities would be built in the wetlands immediately south of I-10 and straddling I-310.

The project involves 4,253 acres of swamp, marsh and emergent wetlands, and 3,900 acres of open water.

Features include five runways, 1.5 mi. to 2.5 mi. long; a taxiway over I-310; an overpass to link I-10 with airport facilities; a passenger terminal; 11 mi. of flood protection levee; 6 mi. of hurricane protection levee on the Lake Pontchartrain lakefront; and grade reduction for the Canadian National - Illinois Central railroad.

About 24 million cu. yds. of organic material would be dredged out of the project area, and about 59 cu. yds. would be dredged from the Mississippi River, Bonnet Carre Spillway and commercial sources and deposited as fill.

The airport's taxiway system would tie in with Louis Armstrong International.

Plans set for new Bossier Parish jail

A new maximum security jail in northern Bossier Parish should begin construction by mid year, following a Spring bid letting.

The 412-bed jail is estimated to cost $26 million, and should be completed in 2005.
Once finished, the jail will replace a smaller, 131-bed jail situated on top of the Bossier Parish courthouse, and should remedy a jail-overcrowding problem. Funding for the construction is coming from a half-cent sales tax.