Terrebonne Council votes on rec district ordinance
October 26, 2017
Don Babin
October 26, 2017
The manager of a Gibson oilfield equipment scrapyard made the case Thursday to about 30 of the company’s neighbors that he should be granted a permit to allow decontamination of items tainted by low-level radioactivity in his yard, pledging that the process will be safe.
But many in attendance, as well as a Terrebonne Parish Council member, said they remain unconvinced. A formal hearing was scheduled for Wednesday before the full council. Last week’s gathering at the Gibson gym was organized by council members Arlanda Williams and Darrin Guidry, following a hearing two weeks ago at a council meeting, to allow residents a better opportunity to hear and weigh facts relating to the project.
The scrapyard currently receives decommissioned oilfield piping and other marine equipment. In some cases that equipment will be detected as containing naturally occurring radioactive material, an expected occurrence. At the present time, however, the company halts work on a piece that is suspected of such contamination and it is removed by a carrier for outside treatment
by another company. M.A.R.S. manager Tony Authement told about 30 people at the gym that allowing his company to do the decontamination itself under controlled conditions would increase the safety threshold rather than erode it.
The biggest concern cited by residents was the potential of toxins getting into drinking water through runoff or accident. Bayou Black, which lies beside the MARS facility, is a source of drinking water for Terrebonne Parish
“The equipment is coming here irregardless – that is my business and that’s the business of several companies around this area,” said Authement. “When it comes here, we take very due diligence in trying to make sure we do this safe, for not only our personnel, but also for the environment.”
Authement also stressed to the crowd that his company has no plans to store or stockpile any of the material, but will have it removed job-by-job using an authorized transport company.
Another cleaning company, he noted, conducts the same process near the same waterways. He said that by decontaminating the NORM on site, MARS could effectively cut down on the transportation of the materials, a sentiment which a citizen agreed was a problem.
“If it’s done through you… It’s already been processed?” questioned resident Chris Vanderkamp. “Right now our highways are still active, it’s more dangerous if they don’t do it.”
Authement explained that one problem his company faces is that occasionally it takes multiple days for a third party to arrive and take the contaminated items, items which MARS has already paid for and cannot make a profit on until its deconstructed.
“Once they take it away, it’s sometimes months before we get it back,” he said. “And we’ve already paid for this scrap, we buy those units, and we buy by the weight.”
To demonstrate what he maintains is a low risk, Authement said the grounds of the Devon Keller Memorial Gym, where the meeting was being held, have radiation levels of between 9 and 10 due to naturally occurring substances, while the materials handled at the scrapyard measure beteen 4 and 6. The earth in nearby sugar fields rates at 10, due to the potassium used in fertilizers, Authement’s radiation safety officer, Greg Stephenson, said.
Authement went on to compare the process of decontamination to pressure washing. He explained that each step in the process captured the contaminants, nothing being disposed of, only packaged and shipped away.
“Outside is a 10, inside your yard is a 5,” said resident Errol Guillory. “How do you keep it like that?”
Authement responded that the area used for decontamination is measured, and if anything measures above a 5 for NORM, MARS contacts the company responsible for it. Afterwards, the material is scraped up and sealed in containers. Those third parties pick it up and ship it away for disposal.
Residents peppered Authement with questions, cheering and congratulating one another when questions touched common nerves.
“You got all your act together as far as your paperwork and that explanation that you had sounded good, but I worked in the oil field industry for 40 years, and I know some of the stuff you’re talking about,” said Melvin Poindexter, who was in attendance with his two grandchildren. “It depends upon the people you got working for you. If those people are really credible, we probably won’t have any problem at all. If they not… they not gonna do what you want them to do.”
Poindexter then spoke of other existing businesses that have raised his concerns.
“For us to have one more piece of business, if you will, to come in and give us that same old mumbo jumbo about what the EPA and all this other stuff is going to come in and do or police those places,” he said. “We know that’s a lie, I know it is… Some of that stuff is gonna stop. It has to stop. “
Authement said he felt his company was better equipped to deal with the decontamination process more efficiently and in a safer manner than shipping the NORM. He also touched on his workers, explaining background checks, physicals, and training which the workers would receive. He said they would work under supervisors, and that those supervisors also had additional supervisors.
“We do all the important things to try to ensure that we get good quality people for our staff,” he said.
Poindexter addressed the crowd.
“What’s going on now, is not good. I’m telling you, it’s not good for the community,” he said. “Don’t let nobody fool the score because it’s not true… They don’t do it. We don’t know about because we don’t make them do what they are supposed to do, because a lot of us don’t care. Now, I’m up in age and I might not have much longer left on this earth, but I’ve got my children and my grandchildren. I think they deserve better.”
“Why is he gonna do it better and you’ve done nothing about the guy down the road?” resident William Slainson asked.
As Guidry began to respond, Slainson interjected, “Listen to the man! He’s telling ya, he’s gonna do a better job than the guy a mile down the road. How come he’s still doing it and he’s gonna come do a better job? When we’ve got run-off in the bayou.”
Authement explained that MARS had methods in place to stop run off.
District 6 Councilman Darrin Guidry asked if the permit from the parish brings with it immunity from lawsuits for the company.
Gavin Guidry, a New Orleans ttorney who represents MARS, said there was no such immunity due to the permit.
“Just like a gas station gets a permit to have gas tanks,” he said. “When something goes wrong with the gas station it’s not immune to liability. Permits don’t make you immune from anything. These permits make license to operate a business, which is subject to discussion right now.”
Councilwoman Arlanda Williams said that while the site is not in her district, she wanted to make sure that all area residents were informed and could raise questions directly. She also indicated that she would not likely be voting in favor of the permit.
“I could vote for this, because guess what, in two years I’m out of here. I’m not going to run for office, so guess what? That’s done,” she said. “But my conscience won’t let me do it because I don’t like the things I’m hearing.”
A Gibson resident who expressed opposition gave a simple reason for his position.
Hunter Washington, who came with his grandfather and his sister, said “I don’t want radioactive water.”
Officials talk to the public at a meeting to discuss plans with citizens regarding waste in Gibson. Citizens said they were concerned about the potentially toxic substances getting into drinking water.
