ENROLLED
2015 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 172
BY REPRESENTATIVES REYNOLDS, ADAMS, ARMES, ARNOLD, BARROW,
BILLIOT, BROWN, HENRY BURNS, BURRELL, CARMODY, CHANEY,
CONNICK, COX, EDWARDS, FANNIN, FOIL, GAROFALO, GISCLAIR,
GUINN, HARRISON, HILL, HOWARD, HUNTER, JAMES, JEFFERSON, MIKE
JOHNSON, LEOPOLD, MONTOUCET, JAY MORRIS, JIM MORRIS, NORTON,
ORTEGO, SEABAUGH, SHADOIN, THIERRY, PATRICK WILLIAMS, AND
WOODRUFF
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To direct the Louisiana National Guard not to accept waste explosives at Camp Minden after
August 1, 2015.
WHEREAS, during the response to the explosion that occurred at the Explo Systems,
Inc., operations at Camp Minden in 2012, responders discovered a large quantity of the
waste artillery propellant, M6, improperly stored; and
WHEREAS, shortly after relocating the waste into buildings and bunkers on Camp
Minden, Explo Systems, Inc., filed bankruptcy, leaving the Louisiana National Guard with
ownership of fifteen million pounds of the propellant; and
WHEREAS, in pertinent part, federal regulation 40 CFR Part 265.382 provides that
the "open burning of hazardous waste is prohibited except for the open burning and
detonation of waste explosives. Waste explosives include waste which has the potential to
detonate and bulk military propellants which cannot safely be disposed of through other
modes of treatment."; and
WHEREAS, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality adopted a similar
rule banning the open burning of hazardous waste but created an exemption for waste
explosives; and
WHEREAS, the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act requires that all
hazardous wastes are managed in a manner that is protective of human health and the
environment; and
WHEREAS, open burning of waste explosives poses a danger to the health and
safety of citizens and threatens the economic development of the state; and
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WHEREAS, the same concerns that resulted in prohibiting the open burning of
hazardous waste should be applicable to prohibiting the open burning and detonation of
waste explosives; and
WHEREAS, experts at the United States Environmental Protection Agency state that
based on experience and research "open burning/open detonation (OB/OD) is a relatively
uncontrolled, dirty, polluting technology" and that an open burn at Camp Minden, Louisiana,
would require "an extensive and costly clean up/remedial action"; and
WHEREAS, along with local leaders, elected officials, and thousands of citizens in
north Louisiana, the cities of Minden, Doyline, Sibley, and Bossier and Shreveport, Webster
and Caddo parishes, the Caddo school board, the Jenkins Community Water System, the
Minden Chamber of Commerce, and the Louisiana Municipal Association expressed
concerns about the safety of the proposed open burn; and
WHEREAS, the Camp Minden Dialogue Committee brought together citizens, local
scientists, elected officials, representatives from the Louisiana National Guard, the
Department of Environmental Quality, the United States Environmental Protection Agency
Region 6, and the United States Army for thirty days to review and evaluate alternatives to
the proposed open burn of the M6 propellant at Camp Minden; and
WHEREAS, this committee found that multiple alternative disposal technologies
exist; and
WHEREAS, likewise, over the past fifteen years the United States Department of
Defense Explosives Safety Board has certified a number of alternative disposal technologies
as safe for the destruction of hazardous wastes that are explosive; and
WHEREAS, the state of Louisiana, the United States Environmental Protection
Agency, and the citizens of North Louisiana are currently working together to select and
implement an alternative technology for the disposal of the M6 propellant; and
WHEREAS, the state of Louisiana should take steps to protect its citizens by
preventing a dangerous situation like Camp Minden from ever occurring again.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Louisiana Legislature does hereby direct
the Louisiana National Guard not accept waste explosives at Camp Minden brought into the
state after August 1, 2015.
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BE IT FURTHERED RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
the adjutant general of the Louisiana National Guard.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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