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I-10 Calcasieu River Bridge a
Longtime Work In Progress
By Brenda Hill
Since 1994, state
environmental and
transportation officials
have been studying ways
to replace the Interstate 10
Calcasieu River Bridge.
Many residents, business
owners and government
officials have met over
22 years attempting to
determine the most efficient
and cost effective way to
replace the bridge – which
was opened in 1952 --that
services approximately
70,000 motorists per day
which totals 23 million per
year.
What many in the public fail
to understand is that one of
the primary hindrances of a
new bridge is the cleanup
of an undisclosed amount
of ethylene dichloride (EDC)
which leaked into the waters
under the bridge in 1994.
According to the Centers
for Disease Control, EDC “is
one of the highest volume
chemicals used in the United
States.”
The chemical is an important
ingredient in the creation of
plastic and vinyl products.
EDC leaked from an above
ground pipeline that was
owned then by Conoco
refinery. Since that time
Phillips 66 (which merged
with Conoco in 2002) has
been working with the
United States Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) and
Louisiana Department of
Environmental Quality (LDEQ)
to “address the impact of
the release,” according to a
company fact sheet entitled
“Clooney Loop Remediation
and the Interstate 10 Bridge
over the Calcasieu River.”
“Phillips 66 operates a
comprehensive groundwater
recovery and treatment
system and regularly collects
samples from monitoring
wells in accordance with
plans approved by LDEQ. This
system has been in operation
since shortly after the
incident and has been highly
successful at recovering
product and cleaning up the
area,” according to the fact
sheet.
The company states that
concentration levels north
of the I-10 Bridge are “well
below the LDEQ approved
cleanup standards and no
remediation is necessary in
this area. In fact, most of the
samples taken from the area
since November 2011 show
that the groundwater even
meets EPA standards for
drinking water.”
The company finished
monitoring and assessment
of EDC impact in the Clooney
Loop Marine Docks along
with the area north of that
location. As a result, Phillips
66 started remediation in
those areas.
“Phillips 66 will continue its
monitoring and recovery
efforts in any affected area
under the guidance of
LDEQ. In addition, Phillips
66 will continue to evaluate
the feasibility of various
remediation methods
to enhance the ongoing
groundwater recovery and
treatment efforts under the
direction of LDEQ,” the fact
sheet states.
The Louisiana Department
of Transportation is the
government agency that will
oversee the construction
of a new bridge. Two
construction projects
are under consideration:
replacement of I-10 Bridge
6 January 2017 WWW.THEVOICEOFSOUTHWESTLA.COM Volume 4 • Number 4