(The Center Square) – Louisiana on Wednesday sued Smitty’s Supply, a lubricant manufacturer whose Tangipahoa Parish facility exploded in August, sending millions of gallons of oily waste and hazardous runoff into nearby waterways.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday by Attorney General Liz Murrill and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, alleges the company unlawfully polluted state and federal waters and repeatedly failed to comply with state permit requirements for years before the incident, in violation of the Clean Water Act.
When federal regulators reviewed Smitty’s required oil spill prevention and response plans after the Aug. 22 incident, they “determined that those plans were insufficient,” according to the suit.
An employee who answered the phone at Smitty’s on Thursday hung up, and subsequent messages left by The Center Square were not immediately returned.
In October, Smitty’s sued two companies in connection with the fire, blaming them for manufacturing and installing a defective thermal fluid heater in the facility.
The explosion destroyed much of the 15-acre complex in Roseland that housed more than half a million gallons of flammable materials. The fire burned for two weeks before it was extinguished, according to the suit.
Subsequent testing found arsenic, barium, chromium, lead and the carcinogen nitrobenzene in local soot, water and soil samples.
To date, around 11 million gallons of materials, including oil, have been collected from the facility, nearby ponds and drainage channels, according to the suit. Oil and hazardous materials remain at the facility “and pose a threat of future discharge,” the suit says.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, the suit asks the court to hold Smitty’s accountable for the pollution, impose civil penalties and order the company to prevent further discharges into waterways.
