[4/10/03]Efforts were continuing today to move an estimated 100,000- to 150,000-gallon tank away from a potentially explosive situation.

With the possibility they may have hazardous material inside them, two tanks at the former Barrett Refining Corporation on Warrenton Road went afloat in Sunday’s flood waters. One tank downed a secondary power line and stopped near a ditch. The other, which is believed to hold about 500,000 gallons, was not near power lines, but still had to be anchored, Vicksburg Fire Chief Keith Rogers said.

The task to move the tanks began Wednesday morning.

“It’s a complicated situation,” Rogers said. “We have a possible flammable product, power lines and a tank that probably weighs tons sitting in water with limited access to it.”

Representatives of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality were on site because of possible hazardous products inside the tanks Entergy was on hand to shut off power lines; and the city’s Public Works Department and the Vicksburg Fire Department were there to oversee and assist.

“We want as much consulting and experience as possible on the scene,” Rogers said. “This is not an easy task.”

Ken Whitten, a MDEQ environmental engineer who works with an emergency response crew, said the tanks should be empty, but crews would check for possible explosive material.

The property was practically abandoned since the plant was closed in the early 1990s due to state and federal pollution charges and lawsuits filed by former employees.

Officials said the property has been in bankruptcy court.

It was sold in July 2001 to Howell Refining Inc. of Chicago, but according to Warren County Tax Collector Patricia Simrall, taxes have not been paid since the purchase.

Mayor Laurence Leyens said the city will file a claim in the bankruptcy court for costs accrued in the rescue efforts.

Leyens said he had talked with MDEQ officials and was putting political pressure on them to remove this “eyesore and liability as quickly as possible.”