By Paige Gurgainers

Ron Hagar, Chair of the Camp Minden Citizens Advisory Group (CMCAG) is concerned about getting burned by the burn chamber still located at Camp Minden in Doyline. CMCAG was formed in 2017 and served as a public connection between the Louisiana National Guard and the United States EPA concerning the disposal process of M6 ammunition at the location.   

Hagar spoke on behalf of the group during Tuesday’s Webster Parish Police Jury (WPPJ) meeting regarding the dismantling and storage of the burn chamber used for the destruction of M6. 

According to Hagar, CMCAG worked diligently to guarantee the ammunition was burned properly, and they were essential to keeping the public informed of what was happening at Camp Minden during that time. 

“It went safely, but a part of the agreement the government made that was in the writing of the contract when they sold it was that it was not going to stay in NW Louisiana- the burn chamber. They dismantled it and put it in storage and sold it to a company called Global,” said Hagar. “The advisory committee cannot find anything about Global except they have a Chinese email, and they have a man named Allen Barksdale that will not answer his phone. His residence is an uninhabited house out in the woods somewhere. That’s all we could find out.” 

The advisory group has been working with the Louisiana Military Department (LMD) to find out more details but has not been successful thus far. 

“We want to know who this chamber was sold to and what is going to be done with it for the safety of the citizens,” Hagar added. He has sent out numerous Freedom of Information letters and received a final report from LMD, which the jury was provided with. 

According to Hagar, the report essentially declares that the LMD cannot find the address for the company and is unsure where the agreement originated.   

“David Madden had a plan for five of those things and he hasn’t followed through with it, but one of the people on the advisory board is now about to lose his career as a professor at a university because David Madden is mad that he spoke out against this and talked to the government about getting rid of them,” Hagar continued. “Right now, he is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to save his career because he spoke on behalf of the citizens of this parish saying that the toxins being released from the M6 will kill people and upset their reproductive systems.” 

But according to Madden that deal was “killed” about 6 years ago by previous Governor John Bel Edwards and he “has no idea who the professor is.” 

Brian Salvatore is an LSU Shreveport chemistry professor and environmental advocate who this past April found himself under attack for his First Amendment right to free speech.  Although LSU Senate faculty members stated it was due to unsustainable shared governance. 

Madden admitted to being disgruntled when the deal fell through originally to have additional burn chambers placed at Camp Minden. “I was mad 6 years ago. They would not follow the math or the science. These people are dealing with fear instead of facts,” said Madden. “The engineering company from Utah built the most environmentally friendly burn chamber in the world. There were no toxins released. The EPA’s (Environmental Protection Agency) exhaust stock emissions test proved that.” 

The CMCAG will be dissolved by the end of June due to completion of the supersite that was created by the danger of the M6. 

“So, I just want you to look at this and decide as a parish if you are going to take over for us and find out what is going on to keep the hazmat disposal process out of your parish the way we have worked for the last ten years to do,” said Hagar. “We just wanted to warn you about the pollution that is about to come here if they get their way. The petroleum spin offs they are making now, they are called the everlasting plastics, those things are in almost everything that is hazmat burning. They go straight into your reproductive system and lungs and the quality of life here is going to disappear.” 

A house resolution was passed in 2015 (H.R. 172) advising the Louisiana National Guard to not accept any more explosives at Camp Minden. Being a resolution at this time and not a bill, it is considered more of a recommendation – not law.