OSWER/OSRTI

Washington, DC 20460

NATIONAL PRIORITIES LIST (NPL)

[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/toxfaq.html or by telephone at 1-888-42-ATSDR or 1-888-422-8737.

*** Proposed Site*** March 2012

EVR-WOOD TREATING/EVANGELINE Jennings, Louisiana

REFINING COMPANY Acadia Parish

 Site Location:

The EVR-Wood Treating/Evangeline Refining Company site is an inactive and 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 

and 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 "via a pipe across the fence." 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 samples collected at the former facility reveal elevated concentrations of 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:

There is a contaminant release 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.