ROSELAND (La. Illuminator) — A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency inspection of the Smitty’s Supply Inc. petroleum packaging plant in Tangipahoa Parish discovered hundreds of other chemical spills and hazards in areas unaffected by the August explosion and fire.

EPA officials detailed their findings in an inspection report that formed the basis of a consent order that requires the company to address violations inspectors documented during an Oct. 7 visit to the Roseland facility. The agency made the report public Tuesday, stating in a news release that inspectors found an estimated 250 damaged containers, 200 chemical spills and more than 300 containers of unlabeled or unidentified substances.

Clay Garside, a New Orleans environmental law attorney, said the findings depict a “horror show” unlike any he has seen. He is representing the advocacy group Louisiana Environmental Action Network in a lawsuit against Smitty’s Supply to ensure the company fully addresses the impact of the disaster.

“I’ve seen some pretty bad stuff but nothing this egregious,” Garside said.

Smitty’s Supply did not respond to a request for comment. It has filed its own lawsuit against the companies that made and maintained the tanks that exploded.

The EPA conducted the inspection a month and a half after the Aug. 22 Smitty’s Supply disaster sent millions of gallons of hazardous materials onto neighboring properties and pouring into waterways, including the Tangipahoa River.

The report includes alleged violations discovered in two undamaged warehouses that are the apparent focus of a related environmental crimes investigation, though the agency has said little about that case. The EPA Criminal Investigative Division, with assistance from the FBI, served a search warrant at the facility Nov. 18 that paused recovery operations near Warehouse 6 and Warehouse 10 for two days, according to information from other EPA records.

The October inspection was led by the EPA’s compliance division, which gathers evidence for the agency’s more common civil enforcement proceedings such as the administrative consent order.

According to its report, EPA inspectors found evidence of active and old chemical spills, many from unlabeled containers that were haphazardly stored. The containers included large 275-gallon totes, 55-gallon drums and 5-gallon buckets. Hundreds were found damaged, corroded, bulging, crushed, leaking, punctured, fallen or at risk of falling from high stacks or shelves.

Many containers had no labels except for rudimentary hand-written notes with vague warnings such as “Danger,” “Waste,” “Bad,” “Expired,” and in one instance, “Do Not Touch must do Labs.” Some labeled with “Corrosive” placards had their tops cut open with oily liquids, trash and debris inside.

In one area of the facility called the Truck Stop, inspectors found a collection of drums with “Radioactive” placards, with yellow police crime scene tape wrapped around the barrels.

Oily liquids were found in open drums, buckets and other containers — many without lids or with pieces of cardboard serving as makeshift covers. Some open drums sat outside with unidentified oily liquids, trash and random discarded items inside. Others were in patches of grass with no containment area to prevent spills from escaping.

Many containers had spilled or were actively spilling chemicals at the time of the inspection, the records said. Some unlabeled containers were surrounded by weeds and visibly deteriorating, and others were surrounded by barren patches of soil saturated with an unknown oily material.

Some totes, which are large, plastic containers with metal support cages, appeared damaged, corroded or bulging with pressure. In one section of pavement used as an outdoor storage area, many unlabeled totes and drums were precariously stacked on top of others without the support of pallets and dangerously leaning over. Some stacks were leaning, and others had fallen over with puddles of chemicals on the ground nearby. None of the containers were labeled, except for one with the word “Bad” written on it.

In one warehouse, a 55-gallon drum of oil was roped off with red caution tape bearing the word “Danger.” The drum was sitting on a crushed wooden pallet next to sealed pallets of brake fluid.

Also inside of that warehouse was evidence of other spilled chemicals on the floor underneath totes and bulging containers. One tote contained an industrial form of concentrated hydrogen peroxide, a volatile chemical that can cause skin burns and explode under certain conditions.

Inspectors were unable to fully examine one storage area because its access points were blocked by a grease spill approximately 3 inches thick and spanning about 100 square feet, according to the EPA report.

In some cases, inspectors said Smitty’s Supply employees made half-hearted attempts to clean spilled chemicals by covering them with cardboard. Other spills were left untouched, forming puddles on the floors of warehouses and on the ground outdoors.

Animal tracks were found on the floor inside one of the warehouses, indicating wildlife had access to the space. The animal appeared to track an unknown white substance across the floor.

Bottled and packaged chemical products on shelves were leaking and in danger of tipping over.

Some incompatible products were hazardously stored together in the same area with one pallet of corrosive chemicals placed next to a pallet of flammable chemicals.

Sealed drums labeled “corrosive” had an unknown liquid leaking onto them, and totes of other corrosive chemicals were actively leaking onto the floor at the time of the inspection with no evidence of cleanup attempts.

Other findings included:
- Concrete containment walls surrounding large permanent tanks had cracks with unknown liquids seeping through, some flowing offsite. There was no evidence of repairs, though someone had painted arrows on one wall to mark a crack.
- A tote of sulfonic acid had a leaking spigot dripping its contents onto the floor of the facility’s grease plant. A worker had stuffed a rag in the spigot to try to plug the leak.
- Grease tanks had pipes and valves caked with an accumulation of leaking contents.
- Containers of open unidentified substances were stored at the top of a staircase.
- Old lead-acid vehicle batteries were strewn randomly across the property. In one workshop, a collection of old batteries was leaking next to a pair of unlabeled compressed gas cylinders.
- The report totals 230 pages, most showing photographic evidence of the findings.

Many of the containers looked old and weathered and as if they hadn’t been moved in years, while others looked as if they had been moved more recently possibly as part of the recovery operations following the Aug. 22 disaster, according to the photos in the report.

Although Smitty’s Supply voluntarily agreed to the EPA’s consent order, the company has neither admitted to or denied the allegations in the inspection report. The order doesn’t prevent the EPA from enforcing other allegations including any criminal allegations that might be under investigation.

Candy Cardwell, whose home is among those closest to the Smitty’s Supply plant, was packing up her life in Roseland when reached by phone Wednesday. Unable to go outside without becoming physically ill, Cardwell said she is moving to California this week.

“I never thought in a million years something like this would happen,” Cardwell said, adding that she hasn’t been able to sell her house.

The EPA’s inspection findings show a company with little regard for human life, she said.

“The owners have taken every opportunity in front of them and exploited it … to the extent that I question their ethical and moral standards,” Cardwell said. “And I think this has gone on for a long time.

“I think that the company has taken every shortcut, trying to maximize profits and putting their employees at risk and the residents in surrounding areas at risk with no qualms about what they were gonna destroy.”