Sugar refinery appeals DEQ order

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana Sugar Refining LLC is appealing an environmental compliance order issued against the company for alleged unauthorized release of process water in mid-December.

State environmental records say the appeal involves a release at the company's Gramercy facility, according to The Advocate (http://bit.ly/yB18N0 ).

The release into area drainage ditches prompted complaints about a foul order to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality on Dec. 16. It remains under investigation, DEQ officials said Friday.

In a statement Friday, a sugar refinery official acknowledged that plant operations may have contributed to some of the foam. The statement said incidental spills of raw sugar could have been discharged over time through the facility's permitted storm water system.

Rodney Mallett of DEQ said the agency is reviewing the refinery's appeal.

Eric Deroche, St. James Parish emergency preparedness director, updated the St. James Parish Council about the release.

Odor from the release allegedly made people ill near the St. James Parish Tourist Center, Deroche said, and nauseated people living and working in Gramercy.

Tourist center employees notified the parish Emergency Preparedness Office of the stench, and parish officials who investigated then contacted the state DEQ agency, he said.

State DEQ officials took samples of what was believed to be the cause of the odor, sugar water released from the refinery into ditches along La. 641 that led to swamps near the tourist center, Deroche said.

He said the discharge was not hazardous.

"It's a nuisance substance," he told the council.