Nine Lake Charles-area companies have agreed to pay $5.5 million to reimburse the Environmental Protection Agency for its expenses overseeing cleanup of toxic chemicals in the Calcasieu estuary.

The newly-rebuilt BioLab chlorine plant in Westlake, near Lake Charles, released an unknown quantity of toxic gas on Wednesday, Mar. 22, 2023, forcing people nearby to shelter in place.

When the Shaw Group announced it would create 1,400 jobs at a new nuclear manufacturing plant in Lake Charles in 2008, state officials likened the deal to landing a major auto assembly plant.

Lake Charles, a working-class city of roughly 78,000 people, has been eviscerated by a direct assault from this season’s hurricanes — Laura, one of the most powerful storms to hit Louisiana ...