Residents: Shrimp plant stinks

• By DAVID J. MITCHELL
• Advocate Florida parishes bureau
• Published: Dec 2, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:30 a.m.

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INDEPENDENCE — Town officials shut off municipal water and sewer service to the DoRan Sea-Pak LLC shrimp processing plant Monday morning because of ongoing complaints of a foul odor.

The move halted a shrimp operation that employs 50 people and one that, according to a Southeastern Louisiana University study, has up to an $18.9 million statewide economic impact annually.

Residents and city officials have complained about the smell, which they say stems from the plant, for at least 18 months. It opened in May 2007 at a shuttered mattress plant in the middle of town.

“If the wind’s blowing the right way, or the wrong way, whichever way you want to take it, it’s bad,” said John B. Lavigne, 63, of Independence, who lives near the plant.

Lavigne and 26 other plaintiffs also filed a civil lawsuit against DoRan on Aug. 22 in the 21st Judicial District Court, seeking to eliminate the smell, court records show. The suit is pending.

Earlier this year, the shrimp plant also was an election issue that saw the ouster of longtime Mayor Phillip Domiano in a March 8 runoff. He helped to recruit the plant.

New Mayor Michael Ragusa said Monday that the shutdown came after a second town council-imposed deadline for the shrimp processing plant to complete upgrades that would remove the smell.

“The people have suffered enough,” he said.

Ragusa and other city officials say wastewater from the facility is overloading the city sewage treatment plant and causing the smell.
The shrimp plant’s treated water discharges into the Tangipahoa River.

DoRan Sea-Pak officials delayed the plant upgrades so they could work through the shrimping season that ends in about 60 days, Ragusa said.

Ragusa, who took office July 1, said he will not restore DoRan Sea-Pak’s water and sewer services until the company presents a plan the city engineer says will work. He said he also will not sign off on a $124,000 state grant that Tangipahoa Parish economic development officials got for the shrimp plant upgrades.

However, DoRan officials said they are not delaying the plant upgrades and they want to keep the $3 million investment in town.

DoRan officials also said the town’s sewage plant has its own maintenance issues that may be affecting capacity.