The state Department of Environmental Quality says one of Louisiana's most polluted waterways has been cleaned up. It's Bayou Trepagnier (trep-AN'-yay), a state scenic waterway in Norco.
A Shell Oil Co. refinery dumped wastewater into the bayou for more than 60 years, lacing the mucky bottom with toxic chemicals and heavy metals and putting the bayou off limits to boaters and fishermen.
The current owner, Motiva Enterprises LLC, agreed in 2008 to a $10 million cleanup plan.
DEQ says contaminated soil at the end nearest the refinery was removed as an 800-foot-wide "clean zone."
For another 6,000 feet of the bayou, sediments were solidified and stabilized, then capped with heavy clay, it said. The agency said about 43,000 yards of clay were used for that and to build access roads.
The refinery was built in 1929 and dumped waste into the 2.9-mile-long bayou until 1995, when the state agreed that it could use the Mississippi River instead.
"DEQ continues to work with Motiva, LLC, and its partners toward returning the bayou to its typical environmental habitat so that fish and wildlife propagation may continue to thrive for future generations to enjoy," said Tom Harris, administrator of DEQ's Remediation Division.
