LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / July 28, 1999

DES ALLEMANDS – Former St. Charles Parish council member Danny Sommewas cited by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality for allowing the illegal discharge of gasoline and diesel into drainage ditches and Bayou Des Allemands from his service station on U.S. Highway 90.A hearing on the matter is set today at the DEQ headquarters building in Baton Rouge. Somme could not be reached for comment.A compliance order issued by DEQ Program Manager Peggy Hatch, issued June 17, gave Somme 60 days to clean up the area, including the removal and proper disposal of dead vegetation and soil saturated with fuel, according to a DEQ inspection.

Somme initially had a wastewater discharge permit for the station issued Jan. 3, 1996. It expired on April 4, 1999, and no renewal application hasbeen submitted, according to the DEQ.

A citizen’s complaint resulted in the initial inspection of Somme’s service station on Aug. 18, 1998. It revealed that “Respondent did cause orallow the unauthorized discharge of contaminated stormwater runoff from a secondary containment source which surrounds four aboveground gasoline and diesel fuel storage tanks at the facility, to waters of the state. Specifically, contaminated stormwater was being dischargedthrough two uncapped pipes in the secondary containment wall.”The ground adjacent to the containment wall was reported saturated several inches by fuel. In addition, a 50-foot section of adjacent drainageditch had dead vegetation and “standing pockets of fuel.”After that August inspection, Somme told the inspector he would have it all corrected in two weeks, the report continued.

However, an Oct. 1, 1998 inspection indicated little progress had beenmade. Breaks in the containment wall were repaired, but the contaminatedsoil was only stripped by 2 inches and capped with sand. A boring turnedup fuel-saturated soil just below the sand.

A follow-up inspection on Nov. 24, 1998 indicated to the inspector thatSomme was still allowing the illegal discharge. A concrete sump wasdiscovered between the containment wall and the ditch, containing leaking diesel fuel, the report continued.

Somme could face fines from $25,000 to $50,000 per day on the violations.

Return To News Stories