LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / August 24, 1999

HAHNVILLE – Bayou Fleet Inc. president Robin Durant responded Monday toSt. Charles Parish District 2 Councilman Brian Champagne’s allegationsmade at the Sept. 16 Parish Council meeting.”It’s a bunch of political crap!” Durant commented, adding, “This cleanup was done properly years ago.”Champagne charged that Durant’s firm is responsible for illegal discharge of oil and other pollution from his barge salvage operation on the Mississippi River batture, upriver from Hahnville.

He pushed through a resolution calling for a comprehensive remedial investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the stateDepartment of Environmental Quality.

At the same time, the council agreed to notify the Louisiana Congressional delegation, St. Charles Parish legislative delegation, Louisiana AttorneyGeneral Richard Ieyoub and U.S. Attorney Eddie Jordan of the situation.Durant said his attorneys, J. Mack Morgan and Andrew Lemmon, haveadvised him not to respond in the press to Champagne’s allegations, but he added he is in discussions with the U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies andhe does “intend to respond” to Champagne in an unspecified manner.

Meanwhile, Champagne and Parish President Chris Tregre clashed briefly over airing of the videotape provided by Champagne of 1990 and 1991 activities at the Bayou Fleet site.

At the end of the Sept. 16 council meeting the council agreed to air a onehour and 45 minute videotape,said by Champagne to be DEQ inspectors roaming over the site on various dates. The tape depicts barge cuttingactivities, oil residue leaching to the surface and runoff going directly into the river.

Tregre initially refused to run the tape and instructed Emergency Operations Director Tab Troxler not to air it, pending an opinion from parish attorney Randy Lewis.

Since then, Tregre has permitted the tape’s airing, with a disclaimer at the beginning, stating the parish government does not swear to its validity.

Tregre said the videotape shows activity which went on eight and nine years ago and may be irrelevant. “We’ve done all we can do as a localgovernment, by reporting it to the appropriate agencies.”Champagne’s presentation cited 1990 and 1991 oil fires which demanded the Hahnville Volunteer Fire Department’s attention on numerous occasions, as cutting torches set off scummy oil residue, illegal discharges of waste, soil and sediment contamination, inappropriate site cleanup activities, waste materials on site not stored or handled properly, improper waste disposal activities, asbestos not handled properly and site flooding resulting in waste being submerged in the river.

Meanwhile, Durant said this week the scrap and other wastes were cleaned up years ago and the matter turned over to the previous owner.

According to the Louisiana Secretary of State’s corporations division records, on Aug. 23, 1948, Oil Transport Co. filed articles of incorporation.Officers of the corporation included L.B. Durant, president; Robin Durant,vice-president; and Helmut Brandt, secretary/treasurer, with Neal D.

Hobson named as agent for service of process.

Villere Marine Corp. formed on July 16, 1959, with Leslie B. Durant,president; and Helmut Brandt, secretary/treasurer, and Brandt again as agent for service of process.

American Marine Holding Co. incorporated on Oct. 10, 1978, with Leslie B.Durant, president; Helmut Brandt, vice-president; Robin Durant, secretary, and Neal D. Hobson, agent for service of process.Finally, Bayou Fleet Inc. was formed on April 14, 1982, with Leslie B.Durant, director; Robin B. Durant, president; Peter D. Durant, vice-president; and Helmut R. Brandt as agent for service of process.In the tangled web, Oil Transport Co. was a subsidiary of American MarineCorp., and operated a barge fleeting operation called Bayou Fleet on thebatture upriver from Hahnville.

They began operations, having inherited the sludge-filled barges from a previous property owner when it acquired the 21-acre site in a 1983 sheriff’s sale, the prior owner being the newly-bankrupt Villere Marine.

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