The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality is starting to wrap up its initial response to the chemical spill that occurred after a train derailed outside Lawtell Sunday afternoon even as contaminants are being found in waterways outside the initial wreck area.
DEQ is continuing to do air monitoring of the derail site every two hours, but will turn those duties over to a private vendor tomorrow. So far, the agency says no airborne contaminants have been detected.
According to a media representative with DEQ, the only substances that have leaked into the water from the wreck site are lube oil and dodecanol. The DEQ said a dam at a nearby rice farm was breached Tuesday evening, sending a surge of water toward Bayou Mallet that washed away an underflow dam set up to skim the chemicals from the surface of the water.
It is very unlikely that the chemical will contaminate drinking water, said Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals spokesman Ken Pastorick. The likely hood of impacting it is very unlikely.
"The likelihood of that is almost impossible. You're talking about going through different geo-levels to get to the aquifer. Only a flooding," Pastorick said. DHH has received no complaints about contaminated drinking water near Lawtell. The area receives its drinking water from the Chicot Aquifer.
The major use of dodecanol is to create other chemicals. Those chemicals can end up in detergents, plastics, adhesives or fragrances. They can also be used to change the thickness of liquid products. It is also used in the cosmetic industry as a fragrance, a skin softener and to help skin keep its moisture.
According to its Material Safety Data Sheet, dodecanol is a mild skin irritant. It has about half the toxicity of ethanol, but it is very harmful to marine organisms.
A hard berm has been installed at Highway 190 to block the contaminants, and hardened boom material has been placed at Highway 190 and Bayou Mallet to block the spread of contamination.
According to DEQ, they will begin going to daylight-only operations on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture is contacting farmers nearby to have them drain their paddies to prevent spreading the leaked chemicals.
The two tanker cars filled with vinyl chloride have been moved back onto the tracks and will be moved to Livonia today.