MINDEN, LA (AP) — Three years ago a series of explosions rocked a north Louisiana National Guard complex, prompting some evacuations and the discovery of 16 million pounds of a dangerous artillery propellant improperly stored at the site. It also caused years of worry for people nearby like grocery store owner Ray Powell, who wondered what the eventual cleanup options might mean for him and his business.
Now Powell's worries are over. The National Guard is preparing to start a privately contracted $32 million cleanup to destroy millions of pounds of dangerous materials by burning it over the course of a year.
"I'm sure the cleanup project will go well and I have no concerns," said Powell, owner of Powell's Grocery outside the area of Camp Minden where the storage facility is located. For years, he worried he might have to evacuate and close his store for the first time in more than 40 years: "They've got good people working on the project."
After years of debating how to dispose of the hazardous materials, the National Guard hired Explosive Service International based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to burn the propellant in the special chamber recently delivered to the site. The Army is paying $32 million for the cleanup, while Louisiana has paid the Environmental Protection Agency over $1 million to oversee the cleanup.
"They will burn 800 pounds at a time and the project will last a year," Lt. Col. Pete Schneider spokesman for the Louisiana National Guard, said.
Schneider said the large burn chamber built in Oklahoma arrived on site Feb. 11 after a four-day trip by barge and truck.
First the company will spend 40-45 days on test burns before 24-hour operations ramp up seven days a week, starting in April.
The burn appears to be the last step in events that began in October 2012 when as many as ten explosions sent black smoke billowing in the sky and some residents of the small town of Doyline decided to evacuate temporarily. For years, federal, state and local officials have debated how to dispose of the highly unstable materials even as they've prosecuted those deemed responsible.
Louisiana State Police said boxes and small barrels of the M6 artillery propellant — pellets of compressed nitrocellulose also known as guncotton — were found both outdoors and crammed into unauthorized buildings at Camp Minden, the former Louisiana Army Ammunitions Plant, about 25 miles east of Shreveport.
Louisiana took the site over from the federal government in 2005. Now, it is a Louisiana National Guard training site and an industrial complex. The Guard leased 400 acres of the 15,000-acre facility to Explo Systems Inc. for their disposal operation.
Explo received a contract from the Army in 2010 to demilitarize hundreds of thousands of propelling charges for artillery rounds. The contract was for $2.9 million with options for renewal for four years. The company said it had plenty of space to safely store and recycle the material, documents reviewed by The Associated Press in 2013 showed, but once their building was full, the propellant was stacked outside.
Demilitarizing explosives generally entails changing a device or chemical in a way that it can't be used for battle.
After the Oct. 15, 2012, explosion the district attorney slapped three Explo officers and four workers with charges including unlawful storage of explosives, failure to mark explosive material and failure to keep accurate inventory.
Court records obtained by The AP showed the workers agreed to plead guilty and testify against the company's executives. They received a two-year suspended prison sentence and $2,000 in fines. One former Explo contracts manager still has his case pending. The cases against the company executives are still moving through the state courts.
– by AP Reporter Bill Fuller
