BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) – Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser and Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome joined Gov. John Bel Edwards at Burden Museum & Gardens on Tuesday morning to announce funding for the first phase of a clean-up project.
“The difference between today and a little more than six months ago when I stood in the exact same spot at the Burden Museum and Gardens is simply astonishing,” said Gov. Edwards. “I’m grateful to the federal government, DEQ Sec. Chuck Brown, Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, the volunteers, and The Osprey Initiative for making this cleanup happen. Litter is a serious problem in our state and to help communities, I signed Act 228 into law this year which will allow municipalities to fund stormwater management. It provides them a local option to declare stormwater a utility and establish a fee for permanent funding to support programs for flood prevention and litter abatement.”
“I also want to commend members of the task force. They have been diligently working for months and developed a comprehensive plan designed to decrease litter and illegal dumping in Louisiana. It’s focused on education, public awareness, enforcement of laws already on the books and community engagement that can be used to cleanup and keep Louisiana the beautiful sportsman’s paradise that we all love.”
The task force suggested the following recommendations to decrease the amount of littering in the state:
- Establish Fundamentals to Sustain Litter Prevention and Beautification Efforts
- Raise Public Awareness
- Build Knowledge through Training and Education
- Advance Youth Education to Create a Culture of Cleanliness
- Strengthen Litter and Illegal Dumping Enforcement Efforts
- Improve Waste Disposal Practices and Recycling Opportunities
- Expand Litter Prevention and Removal Initiatives
- Support Beautification and Community Appearance Enhancement
A full report can be read online. To read it, click here.
The entire news conference can be seen at the original story on BR Proud, online here.
