ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / November 15, 1999

LAPLACE- An 18-wheel truck caused the Louisiana State Police to shut down Interstate 10 in both directions from Gonzalez to the I-10/I-55 split for about an hour Thursday morning.

The truck was carrying 80 barrels of a corrosive chemical called alkylamines when it began leaking at 7 a.m. as it traveled westbound on I-I-10.

Even after I-10 reopened, the southbound lanes of U.S. Highway 51remained closed to traffic for most of the day, while the contents of the truck were unloaded and removed to another vehicle.

Senior Trooper Bryan Zeringue of Troop B reported that the truck, owned by Carolina Trucking Company and driven by Derrick D. Reid, 27, ofMetairie, exited I-10 at the Highway 51 exit at LaPlace, after Reid noticed smoke coming from the rear of his truck.

At the same time, Zeringue continued, the State Police received a series of cellular phone calls from other drivers, beginning at 7:10 a.m., of thesmoke from the vehicle. Some drivers on I-10 told State Police they sawthe truck smoking as far back as the I-10/310 split Reid contacted the state police, and troopers quickly cordoned off the area.

Alkylamines or “mines” for short, is a chemical used to clean out the insides of industrial gas lines. The load was on its way to LaPorte, Texas,when the leak was discovered.

The corrosive puffed small clouds of vapor into the air beneath the overpass at Highway 51 for most of the morning, while police and firefighters awaited the arrival of a hazardous materials crew to clean up the leak.

Bertram Madere, Director of Civil Defense for St. John Parish, said thatalkylamines is designated a Class II substance, which means it is not only a corrosive chemical, but very flammable. He wasn’t worried about thevapor leaking out so much as he was about a fire hazard.

“The damp weather conditions make those clouds look worse than it is,” Madere reported, “I’m more worried about a small spark setting this stuff off.”Gerard Ward, a contractor, saw the truck coming off the exit ramp.

“It was smoking when it came off I-10,” said Ward, “At first I thought it was on fire, or the brakes were burning.”Zeringue added that OilMop Inc., a company that specializes in the clean-upof chemical and hazardous material spills, soon arrived at the scene and examined all the barrels for the leak.

When the contaminated barrel was found, it was offloaded, and the rest of the barrels were de-contaminated and loaded onto another truck.

During this process, state police opened up the interstate in both directions, but kept the southbound section of Highway 51 closed while the clean-up continued.

Zeringue said that neither Reid nor Carolina Trucking are being charged in the incident. The leak is under investigation and the company that loadedthe chemical unto the truck, Evans Cooperage, is being questioned.

Zeringue reported that there were no injuries or fatalities as a result of the leak. However, if anyone in the area thinks that their car or otherproperty was damaged from the alkylamines cloud, they should contact Gage Blue of Carolina Trucking at 1-888-460-5600.

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