DANVERS — The supplier to an ink and paint plant that blew up a Danversport neighborhood nearly three years ago should be held responsible for delivering to the improperly licensed factory, Beverly attorney Jan Schlichtmann said.

Schlichtmann and attorneys for the Safe Area for Everyone group met last night with Danversport residents at the Holten Richmond Middle School to release new findings, which included a computer animation showing a driver for Ashland Inc. pumping chemicals into CAI tanks the day before the explosion.

The vapor cloud blast at 2:46 a.m. Nov. 22, 2006, was equal to more than two tons of TNT and caused $30 million worth of damage to nearby homes, businesses, cars and boats. More than 70 residents were displaced, some for months and years on end.

"Our investigation has revealed Ashland is the one that delivered the chemicals," said Schlichtmann, who said residents last night authorized him to sue if the two sides cannot come to an agreement before the third anniversary of the blast. That's when the statute of limitations for a civil lawsuit runs out.

Schlichtmann alleged Covington, Ky.-based Ashland delivered heptane and alcohols to "mix tank 3" the day before the explosion, but the company says it did not contribute to the explosion.

"Ashland played no role in that event," said Ashland spokesman Jim Vitak, in a prepared statement, "and we are therefore surprised and dismayed with a threatened lawsuit at this late date, nearly three years after the incident."

Federal investigators for the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board theorized a steam valve on a CAI ink mix tank was inadvertently left open, causing chemical vapors to escape, fill the plant on Water Street, find an unknown ignition source and explode.

Residents and businesses eventually settled with CAI and coatings-maker Arnel, the other occupant of the plant, for $7 million, the limit of the companies' insurance. About $5.5 million went to insurance companies that paid out more than $24 million in claims, while 350 residents last week received their share of under $1 million. Attorneys received the rest.

"We intend to vigorously defend against these meritless claims at the proper time and place and we expect to be fully vindicated," said Vitak, who added state and federal investigators never mentioned Ashland in their findings.

When asked why it took so long to come to this point, Schlichtmann said the investigation took time, and then Ashland was given several months to respond.

Safe Area for Everyone co-founder Susan Tropeano said Ashland's delivery to the former CAI/Arnel plant highlighted a problem of small chemical companies that operate with little oversight near neighborhoods.

"These companies (like Ashland) are allowed to deliver these large quantities of explosives anywhere they want without any checks and balances," she said during a press conference at Danvers High yesterday afternoon. "They could give it to a terrorist who wanted to do something with it" or to an unlicensed, unpermitted company.

Tropeano would like Ashland to change its procedures to check for permits and licenses to head off a similar incident somewhere else.

To come to these new findings, Schlichtmann's investigators spoke with an employee who worked for five years at CAI receiving bulk shipments of chemicals who said permits and licenses were not an issue.

Schlichtmann used computer animation to show an Ashland driver delivering chemicals to underground storage tanks investigators said were not properly permitted or licensed. The driver pumped flammable liquids directly to the mix tank that was not properly vented, sealed and had no automatic shut off, all factors Schlichtmann said investigators pointed to as causes.

Ashland supplied about 75 percent of the chemicals to the plant, and Schlichtmann said bulk deliveries of chemicals were timed with production.

Schlichtmann said the findings complement federal and state investigations, however, the Chemical Safety Board was apparently unaware of Ashland's delivery that day.

Schlichtmann dismissed an investigation into the blast by CAI.

"We do not consider CAI's alternative theories to be credible or based on any kind of reasonable basis in fact," Schlichtmann said. "We don't credit their alternative explanations of potential disgruntled employees or a spill of some kind or gas."

An attorney for CAI, Paul Needham, declined comment last night.

Fire Chief James Tutko said CAI did have some licenses, but investigators found quantities at the plant exceeded what was allowed. CAI and Arnel were cited by the state fire marshal's office.

Vitak called Schlichtmann's tactics "unfair and reminiscent of his performance in the Poland Springs and Massachusetts Turnpike cases for which his conduct was broadly called into question."

Schlichtmann, who was played by John Travolta in the movie, "A Civil Action," dismissed this criticism, and said, for one, he was not ashamed about trying to give Turnpike toll-payers a fair shake.

Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673 or by e-mail at eforman@salemnews.com.