The explosion at Smitty’s Supply in Roseland happened more than two weeks ago, and people who live near the site are getting frustrated at what they say is a lack of progress in the cleanup effort. Pat Mashburn says he wakes up every morning to the stench of oil and diesel; and for the last two weeks, he’s been conducting a test with a paper towel to see how much oil is in the Tangipahoa River.
“That paper towel test has not really changed in two weeks. It’s been dark brown, almost black, every day for the last two weeks,” Mashburn said.
Mashburn says people who live near the explosion site face long-term environmental damage with no relief in sight.
“We’re going to have toxic soil for years to come. We can’t go canoeing, kayaking, fishing, tubing in the river. We can’t do any of that,” Mashburn said.
Mashburn says he’s especially frustrated by what he says is a relative lack of communication from environmental officials.
“We just want them to tell us something so that we can adequately protect ourselves, but we’re given nothing other than how much they’ve removed from the river near that one-mile radius,” Mashburn said.