GONZALES — After the state approved a partial closure plan submitted by Ascension Parish and LALumina to address a red dust issue that's plagued residents for several years, Parish President Clint Cointment said Wednesday that work will begin over the next couple of weeks, "if not any day now."

"We've been working to address the red dirt since our first meeting in 2023," Cointment said.

Cointment said that Ascension will not take ownership or responsibility for the partial closure of the facility, but the parish is doing everything it can to ensure the safe completion of the project.

The plan will see six inches of dirt and fill spread across approximately 100 acres of the LALumina bauxite solid waste site. It will then be covered with seed for grass.

Ideally, the grass would grow as tall as possible, Cointment said. He added that the grass would be constantly irrigated with sprinklers to combat possible arid conditions caused by droughts the parish has experienced over the last few years.

In total, the plan will cost $5.3 million, which is nearly the entire budget LALumina has available for the project.

The project provides relief for the Pelican Crossing neighborhood, where new homes are still being built. People in the neighborhood continue to submit complaints to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality about damage done to their properties. It's stained the sidewalks, the street lights and settled into pools, WBRZ previously reported.

"This is a first step in a long-term plan to mitigate the red dirt issue and give real relief to the families living nearby," Cointment said.

Looking toward the future, the Parish President said the recently announced CF Industries ammonia plant in Donaldsonville will bring an influx of business to the parish and surrounding areas.

Cointment said that this project has been in the works for a long time and would "transform the west bank."

"All of Ascension will be impacted," he said.

Cointment also says that the parish is still working on multiple other projects to accommodate the growth the region has seen over the last several years, including ongoing drainage work and continued road work, including work on roundabouts along La. 73.

"Planning is critical," he said. "I'd say a lot of our traffic problems are because we didn't plan for this growth we had in the 2000s and the decades before us. Sometimes you're not aware that's happening, but we're aware that it's happening now."