blown fuse causes hydrocarbon discharge

Updated:  The photos below were taken around 10am on Thursday Nov 25th around the municipal address 2001 Jacob Drive, Chalmette, LA.  It was reported that the new petrochemical testing lab sump pump malfunctioned due to a blown fuse, causing a hydrocarbon discharge into our neighborhood canal, which flows through the neighborhood and into the nearby central wetlands.

Residents reported a distinct gasoline smell in their backyards from the neighborhood’s Jacob Canal.

Update 12 06 2010 Report to LDEQ


The DEQ’s public announcement commercials contain one segment which educates the public about how the amount of oil from just one vehicle’s oil change will contaminate one million gallons of water. How much gasoline and other chemicals have been dumped in our neighborhood in the last 12 months?


Pursuant Turner vs Murphy, some property owners were given the option to sell to the refinery. The court ordered Murphy to make an offer to purchase some of the surrounding properties to create a buffer. Some of this buffer was used to construct a petrochemical testing lab in a residential neighborhood. Murphy was not required to obtain a DEQ nor EPA permit nor to make an environmental assessment survey for this lab. Murphy applied for a local zoning change from residential to a conditional, heavy industrial use. Residents requested copies of the drainage plans and traffic study, but were told there were none. Instead, residents were assured Murphy Oil would not use the residential street and that all discharges from the lab would go back to the refinery. There is no discharge permit for Murphy which allows an outfall into Jacob Drive Canal.

This is not the first time residents have observed the refinery discharges into the Jacob Drive Canal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w34l7_bpkFY   (around the 4:14 mark)


December 09 2009 Report

October 2010 Enforcement Warning Letter


Petrochemical Testing Permits