On Sept. 30, 2025, petrochemicals still filled ponds near the Tangipahoa River across the street from the destroyed Smitty's Supply facility in Roseland nearly six weeks after it caught fire and exploded. (Photo: Wes Muller/Louisiana Illuminator)
Louisiana and federal officials are taking legal action against Smitty's Supply Inc., seeking fines and penalties that could exceed a billion dollars for years of environmental violations and the recent industrial fire and mass spillage at its petroleum products plant in Tangipahoa Parish.
An attorney for private litigants worries that such a high amount, if awarded, could become an obstacle for neighbors and local businesses seeking their own reparations.
The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, filed their lawsuit against Smitty's Supply on Nov. 5 with a federal court in New Orleans. They allege a long list of violations of the federal Clean Water Act and similar state laws and regulations for incidents going back nearly five years. The infractions culminated with the Aug. 22 explosion at the Smitty's Supply facility in Roseland.
"Plaintiffs ask this Court to hold Defendant accountable for unlawfully polluting the Nation's and the State's waters, and to require Defendant to take all appropriate measures to prevent future spills or discharges," the lawsuit states.
Attorneys for Smitty's Supply have not responded to a request for comment.
Its Roseland plant, which bottles and manufactures a wide variety of oils, fluids and petrochemical products for distribution to automotive and industrial retailers, was almost completely destroyed in the August disaster. Storage tanks and drums holding as much as 11 million gallons of hazardous substances caught fire, with some exploding. The fire took two weeks to fully extinguish while millions of gallons of oil and chemicals stored at the plant contaminated public land and waterways, reaching as far as 47 miles downstream on the Tangipahoa River, according to the EPA.
Flowing through a series of ditches and channels, the hazardous substances entered the river through at least four separate points of entry, the lawsuit notes.
The EPA estimates cleanup crews have recovered oily waste and petroleum-based materials totaling 11 million gallons, which matches the facility's storage capacity, from nearby ponds, rivers and drainage channels.
Clay Garside, an environmental litigator with the New Orleans-based Waltzer, Wiygul & Garside law firm, said he's concerned the government's lawsuit could leave little money for Tangipahoa residents and other private litigants with claims related to the disaster. Garside represents the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, an environmental advocacy group planning to sue Smitty's Supply.
"To the extent they have to pay penalties, it takes away available funds to compensate folks," Garside said.
Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill's office would offer further comment on the case.
Shortly before the government filed its complaint, Garside said U.S. Department of Justice attorneys contacted him to ask about Louisiana Environmental Action Network claims and to confirm a filing deadline, adding that he expected its lawsuit to be filed before his.
Companies are rarely made to pay the maximum penalties in these kinds of cases, Garside said, but even lesser fines can lead a company like Smitty's Supply into bankruptcy.
The state's claims in the lawsuit carry significantly lighter penalties of up to $32,500 per violation per day.
Smitty's has filed its own lawsuit, blaming the disaster on two other businesses -- the New York-based Fulton Thermal Corp., whuch manufactures industrial boiler tanks, and Baton Rouge's J&M Boiler Combustion Control Services, which installs and maintains the tanks. Smitty's alleges the boiler malfunctioned, exploded and caused the fire but hasn't said how or why it malfunctioned.
State and federal environmental officials have been unable to determine what started the fire but discovered numerous violations of laws and environmental regulations they allege could have prevented the disaster or mitigated its impacts.
They accuse Smitty's of violating the federal Clean Water Act, the Louisiana Water Control Law and Louisiana Water Pollution Control regulations, among other regulations.
The agencies allege the company failed to implement EPA-required plans for oil spill prevention and emergency response and repeatedly failed to comply with other laws regulating pollutant discharges during the years leading up to the fire.
Lawsuit details prior violations
The state and EPA complaint cites hundreds of previous wastewater discharge, pollution reporting and permit exceedance violations going back three years, as well as seven separate chemical spills since 2021 that reached offsite and contaminated public areas.
One occurred July 21, 2024, involving 950 gallons of hydraulic oil that spilled from a burst railcar transfer line. While cleaning up the initial spill, the oil spilled a second time when the facility's oil-water separator tank overflowed. It went into a ditch along U.S. Highway 51, flowed into a nearby creek and then to a private pond, creating 14,000 gallons of contaminated material that had to be removed, the complaint states.
Another spill the following month, on Aug. 30, 2024, involved a 55-gallon drum of Navilan Yellow 73, a dye added to other fluids for the purpose of detecting spills and leaks. The dye spilled into a drainage ditch along Highway 51 and migrated to a pond on private property. It's unclear if it was the same pond that had been contaminated the month before.
The lawsuit discusses some of the impacts the most recent incident had on the Tangipahoa River, which flows into Lake Pontchartrain, though officials have said the contaminants were blocked before reaching the lake. The incident shut down a 47-mile-long section of the river, which only recently reopened after being closed to the public for over two months.
"Defendant's unauthorized discharge ... was toxic to human, plant, or animal life or significantly increased health risks due to exposure to the substances or consumption of contaminated fish or other aquatic life," the filing states.
Recovery and cleanup efforts in the area are still ongoing more than two months after the incident, and the court filing points out that oil and other hazardous substances on the site still pose risk.
"As of the filing of this Complaint, the cleanup of the discharge is ongoing, but there is still a threat of another discharge if there is a significant rainfall event," the lawsuit states. "Although a temporary storm water collection is in place at the Facility, it may not be able to withstand significant rainfall."
One of the EPA's claims carries a potential penalty of up to $7,093 per barrel of oil discharged. With 11 million gallons of waste recovered, that penalty could total as much as $1.8 billion if the court finds the company acted with "gross negligence or willful misconduct" and awards the maximum fine. Potential penalties for the other claims listed could reach hundreds of millions.
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