The plan calls for Motiva Enterprises, which owns the former Shell Oil Co. refinery, to put a thick clay cover over 6,000 feet of the most polluted part of Bayou Trepagnier and to remove contaminated soil from the first 600 feet.

That 600-foot "clean zone" could be used to divert Mississippi River water into the lake, according to the agreement signed Thursday by Motiva and the state Department of Environmental Quality.

"It's been a long-term goal for us, and we're very proud to be moving forward," Motiva Site Manager Anne-Marie Ainsworth said.

The refinery was built in 1929 where an oil terminal had stood since 1918, according to the company's Web site. It dumped waste into the 15,500-foot bayou until at least 1995, lacing the gooey bottom with heavy metals and toxic chemicals.

The Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation opposed earlier diversion proposals through the Bonnet Carre Spillway because of fears that phosphate-laden river water would cause fish-killing algae blooms in the lake's western end, but favors this one.

"Sending raw river water into the lake would have been disastrous," said Carlton Dufrecheau, the foundation's director. "We're in favor of a diversion that would filter water through wetlands."

Mark Ford, executive director of the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, said the filtering would help both the lake and the 18,000-acre LaBranche Wetlands.

"The wetlands would be nourished and revitalized by the nutrients in the river water. But we can't do that until the contaminants are removed from the soil," he said.

The diversion project has not been approved, and other than providing a zone of clean soil, is not part of the agreement with Motiva.

The agreement comes after 18 years of often contentious negotiations between environmentalists, the company, and state regulatory officials, who presented each other with verbal bouquets at a signing ceremony in Metairie.

The negotiators faced many problems, including the state's designation of Bayou Trepagnier as a scenic stream, making it illegal to disturb the shallow, winding watercourse. Capping is ultimately likely to fill it in, and might even turn it into a mound.

But the Coalition's Ford said saving the wetlands would be worth it.

The agreement also calls for Motiva to monitor and test the northern reaches of the bayou closest to Lake Pontchartrain for contaminants that could lead to future remediation.

Milton Cambre, a 73-year-old Norco resident who has been sounding the alarm about the decline of the LaBranche Wetlands for 40 years, said he believes a milestone has been reached, and not a moment too soon.

"The salt water is just tearing up the marsh, and is eroding away," he said. "We have to get some fresh water in there."

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Information from: The Times-Picayune, http://www.timespicayune.com

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