Birdsfoot Delta

Mile 209.0 - RBD - Myrtle Grove Trailer Park

John Ruskey

20 Apr 2026

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 well that supplied water to the Myrtle Grove trailer park. Due to “human error” neither the residents nor any other agencies were notified. After suffering from miscarriages and other health problems the residents finally were notified of the contamination in 2001. The trailer park operator gave each household $2000 for moving expenses and shut down the park. Dow has fought any responsibility for the contamination. The site has since been developed into a nice middle-class subdivision connected to the city of Plaquemine’s water system.

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