EPA meeting to talk Mermentau superfund
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will host an informal meeting in Jennings Thursday evening to update locals on ongoing cleanup activities at the SBA Shipyard Superfund Site.
SBA used the location for construction, repair, retrofitting and cleaning of barges from 1965 to 1999. According to the EPA barges serviced by SBA typically held diesel, coal tar, creosote, crude oil, gasoline and asphalt. Three barge slips and a dry dock are located off the Mermentau River. The slips were used to dock barges during cleaning or repair
The area has been designated as a superfund, with the EPA saying soil, sediment and ground water area contaminated with waste from barge cleaning activities, including diesel, coal tar, creosote, crude oil, petroleum products and asphalt. Wastes were co-mingled in on-site pits. Soil, sediment and ground water at the site contains numerous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and metals.
According to the EPA, contamination has migrated from the facility to underlying ground water, adjacent wetlands and nearby surface waters.
Thursday’s informal meeting will be held from 6-8 p.m. at Jennings High School. Attendees will have the chance to speak directly with EPA representatives, according to a press release.
The SBA site is located at 9040 Castex Landing Road in Jennings. The 98-acre property is located at the end of La. 3166 and adjacent to the west bank of the Mermentau River, approximately two miles southwest of Mermentau.
Interim removal activities were conducted by SBA contractors from March 2001 to January 2005 under an EPA December 2002 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Order and Agreement. The site was referred to the EPA by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) in September 2012 due to active releases of hazardous materials from an abandoned barge into the Mermentau River, to which the Coast Guard responded. The EPA is currently conducting an interim removal action to prevent active releases from an onsite buried barge.
The state of Louisiana referred the site to the EPA in October 2012 after a National Response Center notification was investigated by LDEQ and the U.S. Coast Guard.