DANIEL TYLER GOODEN / L’Observateur / August 26, 2000

GRAMERCY – An equipment failure at Laroche Industries caused a power outage at Kaiser Aluminum plant around 1:30 p.m., Wednesday.When the Laroche equipment went down it caused an energy imbalance, which shut down the power at the Kaiser plant, according to John Jennings, plant controller at Kaiser. Kaiser was without power for about10 minutes but came back online with everything operating normally, he added.

The Department of Environmental Quality and the St. James ParishEmergency Operations Center received a call from Laroche reporting the incident and a possible chlorine leak.

EOC Director Gerald Falgoust, stated that some law officials smelled the odor. There was some debate over what the odor was, but the generalconsensus is that it was chlorine, said Falgoust. The smell was evident onthe west side of Lutcher at 1:40 p.m.Jason Richard with the DEQ stated that Laroche was expected to give a detailed written report of the incident within 15 days. The St. James EOCwill receive the same report at that time.

No evacuations or warning were issued due to the smell. No one at Laroche Industries could be reached for comment.

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