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Tangipahoa officials say cleanup at Smitty’s site ongoing; river reopenings limited
Summary
Parish President Robbie Miller told the Tangipahoa Parish Council on Sept. 8 that cleanup crews have removed large volumes of oil and contaminated material from ponds and the river near the Smitty’s site but that portions of the river and some roads remain closed while work continues.
Parish President Robbie Miller told the Tangipahoa Parish Council on Sept. 8 that crews continuing response and cleanup work at the Smitty’s site have removed substantial quantities of oil and contaminated materials from ponds and the Tangipahoa River.
Miller said crews have been hauling product off the site and working around the clock where they can safely light and access ponds. “Yesterday, just in the last 24 hours, they pulled right at 50 short of 1,500 barrels of product off the site, off the ponds,” Miller said. He later said, “We’re well over 3,000,000 gallons of between, you know, water, mixed water and, materials or product off of the site since they’ve been begun.”
The parish president said the cleanup has substantially reduced flow from the ponds to the river and that the most southern cleanup site is just north of Lee’s Landing. Crews removed booms from Black Bayou south of Lee’s Landing to the lake, opening that stretch of river, while sections north of that point remain closed. Miller said crews on the river work “basically daylight to dusk” because of safety and visibility limits.
Miller described work to reach ponds in wooded areas as complex, saying crews built temporary mat roads and moved heavy equipment to access and seal contaminated spots. He said teams have sought and implemented additional reconnaissance to find and secure locations they may have missed.
On roads, Miller said Highway 10 remains closed where equipment is staging and moving material; Highway 51 is a priority to reopen, and officials were pushing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for safe reopening timelines. “There’s a chance 51 maybe next week, but there’s still a lot of equipment that moves up and down 51 and 10,” Miller said.
Council members and staff praised response coordination. A council member noted the need to share safety messaging with schools about train crossings and road closures; Miller said he would arrange distribution to the school system. He cautioned that, despite recent progress, a finish date remained uncertain: cleanup could take “several weeks at the least,” he said.
The council did not adopt new policy or funding related to the response at the Sept. 8 meeting; Miller said parish and federal responders remain on site and working daily.
