Baton Rouge to Venice
121 LBD - Old Pan American Southern Oil Refinery The Pan American Southern Refinery was built on Destrehan Plantation in the early 1900's and produced tar, heating oil, gasoline, lubricating oil, asphalt, and other petroleum products until it was closed in 1958. New Orleans: Gert Town The neighborhood
Baton Rouge to Venice
124.6 LBD - New Sarpy Just on the other side of the sprawling facility from Norco, New Sarpy is located adjacent to the Valero oil refinery. After lightning ignited a poorly maintained gasoline tank that resulted in a 13 hour fire, residents of New Sarpy protested and demanded relocation.
Baton Rouge to Venice
126 LBD - Bayou Trepagnier Bayou Trepagnier runs from the petrochemical complex next to Norco through the LaBranch wetlands and into Bayou LaBranch just before it enters Lake Pontchartrain. The Shell oil refinery (now Motiva) dumped wastewater into the bayou for approximately 80 years from the 1930's to
Baton Rouge to Venice
126.1 LBD - Diamond and Norco These two communities are sandwiched between a Shell chemical plant on the east and a sprawling facility including another Shell Chemical plant and two oil refineries on the west. After a series of frightening explosions and accidents at the Shell Chemical facility, the
Baton Rouge to Venice
127.8 - Taft Taft began as a sugarcane plantation and slowly grew to include a post office, store, and the Holy Rosary Catholic Church (established in 1877). In 1966, Union Carbide (now Dow Chemical Corporation) bought the Holy Rosary property and moved the church to Hahnville. The Holy Rosary
Baton Rouge to Venice
141.25 LBD - Garyville & 139.75 LBD - Lions The Marathon refinery is located between Lions, a community founded by former slaves, and Garyville, a racially mixed community on the upstream side. Refinery operations and multiple accidents contributed to an unhealthy and noxious environment; residents from both towns
Baton Rouge to Venice
160 RBD - Chatman Town & 159.5 RBD - Burton Lane Two African-American communities in close proximity to each other that were once surrounded by sugar cane fields but are now surrounded by giant petroleum storage tanks and a petroleum train loading and unloading facility. There is only one
Baton Rouge to Venice
182 LBD - Old Inger Oil Refinery Superfund Site The Old Inger site was a former oil refinery and waste oil reclamation facility that began operation in 1967. The facility was purchased by Old Inger Oil Refinery in 1976 and operated until March 1978. When the site was active, waste
Baton Rouge to Venice
185 LBD - Industrial Complex including Borden Chemicals, Westlake Chemicals, and Momentive Specialty Chemicals Borden Chemicals originally operated a chemical facility here producing vinyl chloride monomer, ammonia, and PVC. After an explosion and chemical release brought attention from Federal regulators in 1997 the U.S. Government filed a civil action
Baton Rouge to Venice
185 LBD - Geismar Once surrounded by agriculture fields, the predominantly African-American community of Geismar in Ascension Parish is now surrounded by over 20 industrial facilities including Borden Chemical. BASF, PCS Nitrogen, and Shell Chemical. When EPA’s TRI first came out in 1987 Ascension Parish had the highest toxic
Baton Rouge to Venice
206 RBD - Reveilletown An accident at the Georgia Gulf PVC plant filled the air of the surrounding area with toxic fumes. Plumes of vinyl chloride seeped into the residential community of Reveilletown, which was located less than 1,000 feet from the plant. Residents filed suit against Georgia Gulf
Baton Rouge to Venice
209 RBD - Myrtle Grove Trailer Park The extensive vinyl chloride contamination under the Dow facility that spurred the Morrisonville buyout also traveled through the groundwater more than a mile south of the facility. In 1997 the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals found vinyl chloride in the drinking water