Settlement proposed over Jefferson council’s rescinding of cyanide plant permit in Waggaman – NOLA.com

Jefferson Parish government and Cornerstone Chemical Co. could be close to settling a nearly year-old lawsuit over the Parish Council's decision to rescind a permit it initially granted for the company's planned hydrogen cyanide storage facility in Waggaman.

The council unanimously approved the plan in January 2018 without any public discussion. The plan flew under the radar at that time because, even though Cornerstone had been making cyanide at the plant since the 1950s, residents knew nothing about it.

But when residents got wind of what was in the works almost a year later, an uproar broke out, and the council reversed its decision. Cornerstone then sued.

Under the terms of the settlement, which still must be approved by the council, Cornerstone will abandon plans to build two new 26,000-gallon hydrogen cyanide storage tanks. Instead, the company will revise its site plan to include two new 4,500-gallon "process vessels."

The reduced size of those vessels keeps the plant under the 10,000-gallon storage threshold that requires approval by the council, according to a summary of the proposed settlement created by parish attorneys and distributed by Councilman Deano Bonano, whose district includes many residents who opposed the plan.

The company has also agreed to other safety measures, including the construction of a concrete retaining wall and systems to prevent overflow and vapor releases, the document says. The company will also keep a public alert system in place.

Cornerstone officials have said the plan approved in 2018 would not have added new cyanide production capacity to the plant, only replaced production that has been lost because of improvements to other processes. They also said Cornerstone sells all its hydrogen cyanide to an on-site tenant, which means it never leaves the facility.

But residents worried that the potential to store more than 50,000 gallons of hydrogen cyanide at the plant was dangerous. Hydrogen cyanide has a number of industrial uses, but it is highly toxic and can be quickly fatal to humans, according to information from the federal Centers for Disease Control.Those concerns were the focus of the public outcry over the company's plans in 2019.

After the council voted 6-1 to rescind the permit, Cornerstone sued. In the summary given to Bonano, attorneys warned the parish could be liable for millions of dollars.

"The potential damages would likely be substantial," the summary says, noting that the company earns about $40 million annually from hydrogen cyanide sales and that the plant is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Bonano was not on the council when the permission was granted nor when it was revoked, and he said he hasn't decided yet whether he will vote to approve the settlement.

At least one council member, Dominick Impastato, said he thought the settlement was a positive. Impastato was the lone member to vote against revoking the permit in 2019, warning the decision could open the parish up to significant lawsuit losses.

The settlement plan, he said, satisfies his two objectives: It makes the plant safer and it removes the specter of a significant judgment against the parish.

However, Lisa Karlin, who lives in River Ridge and has been at the forefront of much of the environmental activism that has swept Harahan and River Ridge in recent months, said she still had questions. She sent a list of them to Bonano after reading the document he distributed to interested residents.

"We want to be assured that public safety will be the parish's priority in considering the settlement terms proposed by Cornerstone," Karlin said. Among her questions were what guarantees the parish would get that the terms of the settlement would be enforced and whether the issue will be given a full public vetting.

The item is currently scheduled to come up before the councilApril 1, but that could change as the coronavirus situation continues to force changes to government plans.

Editor's note: this story was changed on March 22 to correct a statement that Cornerstone is in District 2. It is in District 3.

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Settlement proposed over Jefferson council's rescinding of cyanide plant permit in Waggaman - NOLA.com