ATSDR - Open House to discuss draft Health Consultation on Contaminated Drinking Water at Myrtle Grove Trailer Park in Plaquemine, Iberville Parish, Louisiana

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

Search | Index | Home | Glossary | Contact Us

ATSDR MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT
ATSDR Holds Open House to Discuss its Draft Health
Consultation on Vinyl Chloride Contaminated Drinking Water
at Myrtle Grove Trailer Park in Plaquemine, Iberville Parish, Louisiana

Note to Correspondents: A media availability session will be held July 23 from 6:00 p.m. - 6:45 p.m. at the Iberville Parish Media Center, 58035 Plaquemine St., Plaquemine, La. ATSDR staff will be available for interviews during this time. No appointment is necessary.

For Immediate Release: July 18, 2002

What: The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), a federal public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will hold an open house July 23 in Plaquemine, La., to discuss the agency's draft health consultation about vinyl chloride contaminated drinking water at the Myrtle Grove Trailer Park (MGTP) in Plaquemine.

The meeting will be held at the Iberville Parish Media Center, 58035 Plaquemine St., beginning with an open forum public meeting from 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Afterwards, ATSDR staff will be available for one-on-one discussions with residents from 8:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

The ATSDR draft public health consultation concludes that the MGTP site poses no apparent public health hazard. None of the health concerns reported by MGTP residents are likely to be the result of exposure to the levels of vinyl chloride or any other contaminant detected in the well water at MGTP.

The levels of vinyl chloride--4.9 parts per billion (ppb) to 13.8 ppb--detected in the MGTP well system would not be expected to produce adverse health effects either in adults or children.

Park residents formerly were exposed to vinyl chloride in drinking water supplied by the MGTP well system. Since March 2001, park residents have been using city-supplied water.

The source of the vinyl chloride has not been determined. Areas around the MGTP site might be affected by a known vinyl chloride groundwater plume although no one is believed to be drinking vinyl chloride-contaminated groundwater at this time. ATSDR will evaluate the potential for exposure in these areas in a separate health consultation.

ATSDR's recommendations in the draft health consultation are to continue monitoring the vinyl chloride groundwater plume to better characterize the plume, determine its source, and to evaluate potential exposures to groundwater in areas surrounding the MGTP site that might be affected by the vinyl chloride groundwater plume.

The public is invited to submit written comments about the draft health consultation. The public comment period continues through August 20, 2002.

The draft health consultation is available for public review and comment at the following repositories:

Iberville Parish Library
24605 J. Gerald Berret Blvd.
Plaquemine, LA
Phone: (225) 687-4397

Louisiana Environmental Action
Network (LEAN) Satellite Office
58038 Fort Street
Plaquemine, LA
Phone:(225) 685-0729

Written comments about the draft health consultation should be sent to:

Chief, Program Evaluation, Records and Information Services Branch
ATSDR, 1600 Clifton Road, NE, Mailstop E-56
Atlanta, GA 30333

Comments received during the public comment period will be logged and become part of the administrative record for the health consultation. Comments (without indication of who made them) and responses will be included in an appendix to the final document. Although names of those who have submitted comments will not be included in the final health consultation, they will be subject to release under the Freedom of Information Act.

Community members who would like more information about the health consultation may contact Community Involvement Specialist Youlanda Outin or Public Health Assessor Danielle Langmann, toll free, at 1-888-422-8237. Callers should refer to the Myrtle Grove Trailer Park site. Regional representative Lt. Cmdr. Patrick Young may also be contacted in Dallas at (214) 665-8562.

Except for the media availability session, members of the news media are requested to make an appointment to interview ATSDR staff. Please phone John Florence or Kathy Skipper in the ATSDR Office of Policy and External Affairs at (404) 498-0070.

Back to ATSDR Home page

This page last updated on July 19, 2002
For more information, contact ATSDR at:
1-888-422-8737 or e-mail: atsdric@cdc.gov(public inquiries)
(404) 498-0080 or e-mail: atsdmediainquiries@cdc.gov (news media)