Cleanup cost rises to $39 million after massive fire at Louisiana plant. Who's paying?

Three weeks since Smitty's Supply in Roseland caught fire and exploded, the bill for the lead response agency is already in the tens of millions of dollars and may rise, officials said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has set aside at least $39 million and is seeking more through federal emergency petroleum spill money, an agency spokesman said.

The rising EPA numbers, which don't include additional local and state costs, provide a measure of the environmental impact of the huge fire that started Aug. 22 and took more than two weeks to fully extinguish.

The new figure represents a sharp rise in the cost of the response, which earlier this month was involving as many as 261 EPA staffers and contractors and 20 local officials.

The fire at the lubricants plant off U.S. 51 sent up