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Tangipahoa River polluted by Smitty's fire reopens, cleanup efforts remain
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BATON ROUGE - On Friday, independent tester Scott Smith showed the WBRZ Investigative Unit new data from the Smitty's fire contamination, revealing concerning results.
Smith's samples taken from several surrounding waterways showed the presence of PFAs or 'forever chemicals.'
"It's highly carcinogenic and causes a lot of problems at very low levels," Smith said.
Also on Friday, DEQ gave the all clear to reopen the Tangipahoa River.
Tangipahoa Parish President Robby Miller has been working alongside Smith, learning from his 20 years of chemical disaster response experience.
"He helped us to know from an outside perspective what we should be asking for," Miller said.
The PFAs likely came from fire fighting foam used to put out the massive fire at the plant that burned for two weeks and, according to Smith, have been detected 50 miles downriver past Lee's Landing - but have not yet been found in any drinking water
"From what we understand, the drinking water, even Scott says, that none of this should have gotten into any drinking water at this point. So we're counting on them to to be factual with us, but if they want to get it tested, they should get it tested."
However, both Scott and Miller acknowledge that it is very early in the testing process and they do not yet know whether the toxins were present before the Smitty's fire.
"How do we know where it is? How do we know what caused it? How do we know what the levels are or what caused it if it's already there?"
Though the EPA has contained more than 11 million gallons of discharge from Smitty's, there is still potential for a second disaster if it rains.
"Number one issue," said Smith. "There hasn't been a lot of heavy rain but when there was heavy rain, my phone was blowing up with health symptoms and smells in the air. Heavy rain is going to discharge all that effluent from all those ponds and we talk about the river banks where all that has spread. It's going to release more chemicals downstream."
Miller says the responsibility to prevent that lies with Smitty's.
"That's been a major concern of ours. We literally pray for the right kind of rain when we have to have rain. At the same time, Smitty's is diligently working to clean up the site, get rid of the rest of the product, dispose of it properly so the storm water is not as big as a risk."
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