OSWER/OSRTI 

Washington, DC 20460 

NATIONAL PRIORITIES LIST (NPL) 

***Final Site*** September 2012 

EVR-WOOD TREATING/EVANGELINE Jennings, Louisiana 

REFINING COMPANY Acadia Parish 

 Site Location: 

The EVR-Wood Treating/Evangeline Refining Company site is an abandoned wood treating facility and refinery 

located off Highway 97, 1 mile north of Interstate Highway 10, near Jennings, in Acadia Parish, Louisiana. 

 Site History: 

The site began wood-treating operations in the late 1940s, and closed in 1985. The site was involved in the 

preservation of timber products, principally fence posts and lumber, through pressure treating processes. The former 

processes used chromate copper arsenate (CCA), pentachlorophenol (PCP) and creosote. The original property owner 

also owned Evangeline Refinery Co., which operated as an oil refinery from 1938 to 1981. The refinery produced 

naphtha, kerosene, diesel and No.5 fuel oil. These fuels were used by EVR-Wood as a carrier for PCP in the wood 

treating process. When the refinery was sold, the owner retained control of the wood treating plant. The refinery was 

sold with the understanding that the wood treatment plant could send waste water to the refinery on an as-needed 

basis. Evangeline Refining Company received wood treating waste water into their lagoons from EVR-Wood Treating. 

No distinct boundaries between the properties were established during the years of operation. The site includes the 

entire EVR-Wood Treating property and the adjacent Evangeline Refining Company. 

 Site Contamination/Contaminants: 

Soil at the former facility is contaminated with metals, including arsenic, chromium and copper; polycyclic aromatic 

hydrocarbons (PAHs), including acenaphthene, anthracene, benzo(a)anthracene, benzo(a)pyrene, 

benzo(b)fluoranthene, chrysene, fluorene, fluoranthene, 2-methylnaphthalene, phenanthrene, pyrene; and PCP. 

 Potential Impacts on Surrounding Community/Environment: 

Contaminants have been released to wetlands. Commercial and recreational fisheries are located in downstream 

waters. Without remediation of the site, releases will continue to contaminate downstream surface waters. 

 Response Activities (to date): 

No removals or response measures have taken place at this site. Since 2001 all onsite tanks have collapsed and the 

contents leaked onto soil. Piles of containers of CCA product have disintegrated. A tank battery torn down by the 

property owner was not removed in accordance with the state regulations. 

 Need for NPL Listing: 

The site is being proposed for addition to the NPL based on evidence that metals, specifically, arsenic, chromium and 

copper, PAHs, and PCP have migrated from the facility to underlying adjacent wetlands. Other federal and state 

cleanup programs were evaluated but are not viable at this time. Since 2001 no substantial remediation has occurred at 

the site, and in 2011 state Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) asked the EPA to re-evaluate the site for 

Superfund action. The EPA received a letter of support for placing this site on the NPL from the state. 

[The description of the site (release) is based on information available at the time the site was evaluated with the HRS. The description may 

change as additional information is gathered on the sources and extent of contamination.] 

For more information about the hazardous substances identified in this narrative summary, including general information regarding the effects of exposure to 

these substances on human health, please see the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) ToxFAQs. ATSDR ToxFAQs can be found on 

the Internet at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaqs/index.asp or by telephone at 1-888-42-ATSDR or 1-888-422-8737.