Waste site off priority list

• By JOHN A. COLVIN
• River parishes bureau
• Published: Jan 5, 2009 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Following more than two decades of cleanup, the last of three federal “superfund” sites in Ascension Parish is off the national priority list but monitoring and cost recuperation continue, federal officials say.

Federal authorities are seeking to recuperate administrative and oversight costs related to the cleanup of the Dutchtown Treatment Plant, one of three “superfund” sites in the parish.

“Cost recovery is a key milestone and an important part of the superfund program,” said Donn Walters, public liaison for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 6 office based in Dallas which oversees EPA issues in Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico.

Superfund is the name given to the environmental program established to address abandoned hazardous waste sites. The program allows the EPA to clean up such sites and to compel responsible parties to perform cleanups or reimburse the government for EPA-led cleanups.

A consent decree, filed Dec. 15 in federal court in Baton Rouge, is the result of negotiations between U.S. Department of Justice attorneys in Washington, D.C., and nine companies, including Ascension Holding Co., the current owners of the five-acre lot at La. 74 and Interstate 10, said U.S. Attorney David Dugas.

According to the agreement, the companies are to pay $935,000 to the EPA for response costs pertaining to the site. Of the payment, EPA will set aside $71,000 for future management.

The agreement will not go into effect until after Jan. 22 when a 30-day public comment period ends.

Walters said cost recovery is one of the last steps in the superfund process.

The Dutchtown Treatment Plant site was first placed on the national priorities list in 1987 and was taken off the list in 1999. It was a waste oil reclamation center from 1965 to 1982. Located near a subdivision and Dutchtown Primary and Middle Schools, the site had 10 storage tanks, a rail car tanker, an oil pit, and a holding pond containing oil and water.

Cleanup at the Dutchtown site included excavation, soil and surface water treatment, capping the contaminated waste with clay and growing vegetation over the cap, according to the EPA.

Wells remain in place to monitor whether contaminated shallow water creeps into deeper water sources, according to the latest EPA evaluation performed in August.

EPA deletes a site from the superfund list when the federal agency determines that all cleanup goals have been achieved and the state governmental agencies agree.

In August, the Old Inger Oil Refinery near La. 75 north of Darrow was removed from the list of the worst hazardous waste sites. It is the last of the parish’s sites to remain on the priorities list.