By LEONARD GRAY – Managing Editor

GOOD HOPE – A suspected pipe bomb on Prospect Avenue near the Valero refinery Monday turned out to be a training device used to test security personnel at Motiva.

George Guedry of the St. Charles Parish Emergency Preparedness Department said the incident began at 9:35 a.m. when a Kansas City Southern Railroad worker noticed the small item in the middle of the road near the Prospect Avenue tracks.

Resembling three PVC plastic pipes, lashed with duct tape, and attached to a battery, the railroad worker took no chances.

Capt. Patrick Yoes of the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office said the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s bomb squad, joined by Louisiana State Police Troop B and the FBI converged on the site, shutting down the roadway.

Although the spot was apparently near to several industrial sites, including Motiva, Shell Chemical, Valero and Dow-St. Charles Operations, it was visually judged to not be large enough to create much damage.

Yet, the authorities were taking no chances with the device and kept onlookers at a distance while shutting down the traffic on the heavily-used street.

At about 12:30 p.m., a water cannon was used to strike the device, intending to set it off. However, the device was a dud, later identified by Motiva authorities as a training device used to teach their own security personnel.

The item had apparently fallen from a passing truck earlier that morning, according to Yoes.

However, he continued, the exercise gave the authorities a drill in confronting such devices, trying out communications and available resources.

“It was a good planning exercise for us,” Yoes commented.