On May 5, 2013, the EPA Region 6 Phone Duty Officer was contacted by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) regarding the spill of 200 gallons of Red Dye Diesel fuel from a tote into a roadside ditch located at a residential property located on Grand Caillou Road in Houma, Louisana.
The 200 gallons of diesel were being delivered to the owner of shrimp boat when the unsecured tote on the back of a truck slid off the truck bed and on to the ground where it split open and discharged on to both the ground and the water in the roadside ditch. The spill and roadside ditch are located about 100 feet from the Grand Caillou Bayou.
Because the owner of the tote claimed to LDEQ that he did not have the financial means to clean up the spill, LDEQ contacted EPA Region 6 to request assistance. The Region 6 Phone Duty Officer deployed an OSC to the incident. The responding OSC activated both the ERRS contractor and START contractor. Both contractors along with the OSC arrived at the scene at 1900 on May 5.
ERRS used a vac truck to remove the bulk of the diesel from the water in the roadside ditch and absorbent pads were used to remove pools of diesel on the ground. Removal of water in the ditch will take place tomorrow (May 6) along with soil removal and a scraping of sediment from the ditch.
