On February 8, 2017, an explosion at the DeRidder Mill killed three contract workers and injured seven others (the “Explosion”). These workers from Elite Welding, LLC (“Elite”), were welding on the cracked intersection of a vertical eight-inch clean condensate pipeline and a three-inch pipeline near the Mill’s 100,000-gallon foul condensate tank. This tank accumulates harmful vapors, referred to as “non-condensable gases,” a byproduct of the Mill’s kraft pulping process used to make containerboard. The tank, which was supposed to have been emptied before the welding began, still contained liquid and highly flammable non-condensable gases, including methanol and turpentine.
While Elite’s workers were welding the intersection of the eight-inch clean condensate pipeline and the three-inch pipeline, flammable vapors from the foul condensate tank ignited. The resulting Explosion blasted the top of the tank over a six-story building before it landed on other Mill process equipment approximately 375 feet away. In addition to the three fatalities it caused, the Explosion released an estimated 2,453 pounds of methanol (in a 1% solution) and a yet-to-be-determined quantity of turpentine.
Following the Explosion, EPA inspected the DeRidder Mill. The inspection and associated investigation identified the Clean Air Act violations now alleged in this Complaint, some of which are unrelated to the Explosion.