This story was initially revealed by the Louisiana Illuminator.

Thousands and thousands of gallons of oily water and spilled petrochemicals from the Smitty’s Provide hearth and explosion have been dealt with at three totally different websites, however state officers have granted an emergency request to convey a few of the liquid and strong waste to a Jefferson Parish landfill.  

River Birch LLC, which operates a landfill in Avondale, acquired a allow exemption final month from the Louisiana Division of Environmental High quality to simply accept waste recovered after the Aug. 22 hearth catastrophe in Tangipahoa Parish, in keeping with LDEQ information the company revealed this week.

Though River Birch’s Class 1 injection wells are permitted for less than non-hazardous supplies, a 1996 federal regulation permits them for use to get rid of sure hazardous supplies blended when with water. River Birch makes use of its injection wells for petrochemical wastewater, industrial sludge, oily waters, solvents, acids, contaminated groundwater and stormwater, and different liquid wastes that may in any other case be thought of hazardous, in keeping with the corporate’s web site.

River Birch’s injection nicely allow permits it to simply accept liquid waste statewide, however its strong waste allow is restricted to a 13-parish space that doesn’t embody Tangipahoa. The corporate requested the emergency strong waste exception on Oct. 13, and the state accredited it two days later. 

“It is a distinctive alternative for Smitty’s to handle all of its contaminated waste at a correctly permitted facility,” Chris Casteix, River Birch’s environmental compliance supervisor, wrote within the firm’s emergency request to the company.

In its approval letter to River Birch, the Division of Environmental High quality stated the waste from Smitty’s Provide “could have no important opposed influence on the general public well being, security, welfare, and the atmosphere.”

It’s unclear how a lot waste Smitty’s Provide will ship to the River Birch landfill. Neither firm has responded to calls or emails. 

Greater than 12 million gallons of liquid waste from Smitty Provide had been recovered from impacted areas as of Oct. 28. Roughly half of that quantity has already been disposed of at different amenities, in keeping with data from the U.S. Environmental Safety Company and the state. 

As of Oct. 16, EPA contractors introduced 2.7 million gallons of recovered waste to Preston Environmental Options in Baton Rouge for recycling and three.7 million gallons to Woodside Landfill in Livingston Parish for solidification. 

One other 595,000 gallons has been taken to a landfill in Liberty, Mississippi, and injected underground, in keeping with LDEQ information.

Underground injection of liquid waste is an accepted disposal apply underneath state and federal legal guidelines. 

Whether or not it’s an injection nicely for waste disposal or an oil nicely for extraction, the construction is usually the identical. A gap is drilled to a desired depth, usually round 4,000 ft for Class 1 wells, and supported with lengthy sections of pipe cemented in place to forestall cave-ins. Usually a further layer of tubing strains the inside partitions of the pipe to forestall leaks. There isn’t a encasement or container on the backside of the nicely. The liquid waste is pumped by way of the tubing and into the bottom, filling the tiny areas in porous rock underground. 

The EPA requires a Class 1 nicely to increase under the lowermost formations containing consuming water inside a quarter-mile neighborhood. Patrick Courreges, spokesman for the Louisiana Division of Conservation and Vitality, stated there have to be a ok barrier of impervious rock to forestall any of the waste from seeping upwards. He stated the injection strain on the wellhead is continually monitored to forestall fractures and blowouts.

River Birch’s web site says its wells are positioned 6,500 ft underground.   

Injection wells are typically the most cost effective choice to get rid of contaminated liquid waste, however they do carry some dangers akin to nicely leaks and groundwater contamination, in keeping with the EPA and different sources. The federal company says underground injection is secure when the wells are positioned at an acceptable website and correctly maintained.

As for the sorts of strong waste River Birch will settle for from Smitty’s Provide, LDEQ officers wouldn’t present any specifics when reached for remark Wednesday. 

“River Birch might be disposing of non-hazardous strong waste that they’re already permitted to get rid of,” LDEQ spokeswoman Meagan Molter stated.

Lisa Karlin, a River Ridge resident and longtime citizen watchdog of Jefferson Parish authorities, raised a number of issues about River Birch accepting waste materials from Smitty’s Provide. She needs to know who determines whether or not the waste going to River Birch is hazardous or not and if any type of testing is required to make that willpower. 

“Even when it’s technically OK, ought to the parish soak up waste from Smitty’s?” Karlin stated. “The whole lot I’ve seen means that the Smitty’s waste is probably going extremely poisonous.”

Members of the Jefferson Parish Council haven’t responded to her questions on River Birch’s allow, she stated. 

Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng and Councilmembers at-large Jennifer Van Vrancken and Scott Walker haven’t responded to a reporter’s request for remark.

Karlin additionally questioned whether or not River Birch’s allow exemption warranted expedited approval when waste from Tangipahoa Parish was already going to different landfills that have been nearer in distance.

“Why drive over an hour to get to River Birch?” Karlin requested.  

The 180-day emergency allow exemption will stay in impact till mid-April.

Smitty’s Provide faces a lawsuit from the state and EPA that seeks fines and penalties that would exceed a billion {dollars} for years of environmental violations. The Louisiana Environmental Motion Community has additionally given discover that it intends to sue the corporate over violations of the federal Clear Water Act.

The corporate additionally faces a lawsuit from a Roseland farmer who says his property is now not appropriate for elevating livestock.

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