A $3.2 million cleanup to limit exposure to carcinogenic PCBs at the Devil's Swamp Lake Superfund site near Baton Rouge could begin soon, thanks to an agreement reached between federal officials and the company that currently manages the site.
Clean Harbors, Inc. and its subsidiaries, Clean Harbors Baton Rouge, LLC and Baton Rouge Disposal, LLC, recently signed consent decrees with the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice, agreeing to cover the costs of cleanup and to pay the federal government $2.3 million to reimburse the EPA for its costs of responding to the hazardous waste contamination.
Baton Rouge Waste Disposal Company is the successor to Rollins Environmental LLC, which operated a facility adjacent to the swamp that handled transformers and other equipment containing PCBs and was determined to be a source of contamination at the Superfund site.
Clean Harbors, which currently operates the Baton Rouge waste facility, and the EPA will oversee the contamination reduction efforts. The cleanup plan approved by the EPA in 2020 calls for covering the most heavily PCB-contaminated areas of a more than half-acre section of the drainage ditch that runs from the waste facility to the lake with a six-inch-deep layer of clean sediment. More sediment and rock will be placed on top to protect against future flooding.
The 6.6 acres of contaminated lake bottom sediment on the 39-acre site will be covered with a six-inch-thick layer of sand to encourage new marsh growth and reduce exposure to fish and crayfish.
Although it could take up to two years to design and build a pollution reduction plan, officials estimate it could take 30 years for contaminant levels in fish and crayfish to fall below current public health standards.
The consent decree was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Baton Rouge and must be approved by a federal judge after a 30-day public comment period. Information about the comment period and how to submit comments on the decree has not yet been released.
“The Devils Swamp Lake Superfund Site is unfortunately located in a region that is already plagued by a variety of environmental issues,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Kim said in a statement. “This settlement will protect residents from the dangerous chemicals that have contaminated Devils Swamp Lake for decades and bring the region one step closer to restoring the lake and other important natural resources.”
Devil's Swamp, contaminated since the 1960s with a variety of toxic chemicals, including carcinogenic PCBs, is a 12-square mile cypress and tupelo freshwater marsh along the east bank of the Mississippi River just north of downtown Baton Rouge and adjacent to the Alsen neighborhood.
The U-shaped lake is a small portion of marsh that was excavated in the 1970s to provide materials to strengthen the levees along the nearby Baton Rouge Barge Canal, also known as Baton Rouge Barge Harbor.
Because deeper lake areas of the marsh trapped more hazardous chemicals, it was first proposed as a Superfund site by the EPA in 2004. However, the EPA did not add the site to the national list of Superfund projects until 2020.
The marsh's primary contaminant of concern, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl compounds), were historically industrial chemicals found in oil used to insulate electrical transformers, but were banned in 1979 because of threats to humans and wildlife. A variety of other toxic chemicals, including hexachlorobenzene, hexachlorobutadiene and heavy metals, have been found in sediment and water samples dating back to 1977, but are not specifically targeted in the settlement.
Separately, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and Wildlife and Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a 55-page draft plan outlining how they will identify damage to natural resources caused by contaminants in the Superfund site and the value of lost activities, such as recreational and subsistence fishing.
This initial report outlines how this information can be used to develop projects aimed at restoring lost resources and their values. Plans could also include early restoration projects that can begin before damage assessments are complete.
The potential project would be in addition to the remediation work overseen by the consent decree.
Neither the cleanup effort nor the assessment of damage to natural resources contemplates direct compensation for Arcenians or others exposed to the contamination, which is a concern to Arcenians.
“Human health is a major concern that is overlooked and deprioritized in this plan,” said Quisha Reid-Jones, president of the Alsen St. Irma Lee Community Village organization.
During a February meeting with federal and state officials who oversee the Superfund site, Reed-Jones listed a list of health problems that residents believe are at least in part the result of exposure to contaminants in the swamp and from the area's numerous chemical plants, including skin rashes, respiratory illnesses, high rates of environmental cancers and children born with unusual deformities and developmental disorders.
“Alsen was an agricultural community known as a sportsman's paradise,” she said. “The wildlife, fish and crawfish in Devil's Swamp Bayou and agriculture were how residents fed their families. Before Devil's Swamp was polluted, residents were able to feed their families and earn an income from the bayou.”
But EPA officials say their investigations have not found a direct link to Arsen's health problems.
“EPA has completed a human health risk assessment for the site that evaluated potential exposure to chemicals on the site through various pathways,” an agency spokesperson said. “The investigation determined that the only pathway that poses an unacceptable risk to the community is through consumption of fish. Until final action is taken, EPA is working with the State of Louisiana to install signs in the areas surrounding Devil Swamp Lake warning residents of the risks of consuming contaminated fish.”
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