pursuing tzedek

it's been given a 72 hour reprieve:

Mayor Ray Nagin agreed Wednesday to close a controversial construction and demolition landfill in eastern New Orleans for 72 business hours to give environmental and community groups a chance to test the debris that has been dumped there and determine whether it poses hazards to nearby residents as well as to the adjacent Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge.

More importantly, in the view of landfill opponents, Nagin promised to close the site if testing shows "harm" to nearby communities and to push the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - which is supervising the removal of Hurricane Katrina debris - to allow nighttime hauling of construction detritus to previously existing landfills outside the city.

"The shutdown will automatically end (after 72 hours), but we're not going to let (the landfill) go forward if we sense that there are any concerns from experts as far as it being harmful to the community," Nagin said. "If reports show that this material is toxic, we will shut it down."

this is a good first step. background info is on my earlier post at dailykos.

there's also a good video story up on the nytimes website.