Bauxite Ponds - would you live next to one?

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Isn't that stuff dangerous to your health?

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isn't that entire area referred to as "cancer alley?"

I would choose to not live in Gonzales for a number of other reasons besides the pond.

The back side of Pelican Point might be okay. I wouldn't live on the other side of LA44.

The new neighborhood up closer to the highway looks nice.

I wouldnt live in the neighborhood that exist next to that pond for many reasons, the bauxite pond isn't one.

Never heard of any health issues associated.

As far as it being Cancer Alley, rates are no higher than the rest of Louisiana. OCAW publicity from the 80s that just stuck.

The bigger environmental disaster in the making is the gypstack mountain behind Mosaic - downriver from Gonzales.

It's massive, and it's not stuff you want rushing anywhere near homes or wildlife. Although It may never break or leak.

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The bigger environmental disaster in the making is the gypstack mountain behind Mosaic - downriver from Gonzales.

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What's the issue with that?

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Although It may never break or leak.

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I don't know about that...

LINK

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Can’t answer on the health issue but you’ll have a never ending chore of cleaning red dust off of everything you own, and that’s not an exaggeration

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My first house was sold to me by Gil Broussard who was planning to develop Pelican Point. He was so proud of it he brought his sales portfolio to the closing. Kinda shitty of him, in retrospect. I questioned the location then.

I worked at Ormet when I was 19/20 as an operator, and I would pass by the acreage for sale on the North side of Hwy 44 across from PP every single day and debated on whether or not I should by some. The one thing that kept me from doing it was what you are saying. The red dirt/dust and the caustic ponds.

I passed up buying any of the 2-5 acre lots for 16K, 22K,30K etc... then years later after I left Ormet and a friend of mine bought a house there, lots were going for upwards of 120K.

Since then, that area has developed far more than I would ever believe. The truth is, the ponds aren't really very hazardous, it's mud and high pH water.

Do you live near there? Just wondering, because I know some folks who do and spent a lot of time with them there while Ormet was in operation, and I don't remember bauxite on any of his stuff.

Not trying to scare you but it’s a proven fact that everyone who lives within 5 miles of a bauxite pond dies eventually.

But Greg Hackney is from Gonzales so it kind of equals out.

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I passed up buying any of the 2-5 acre lots for 16K, 22K,30K etc... then years later after I left Ormet and a friend of mine bought a house there, lots were going for upwards of 120K.

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As pointed out earlier....the location is almost right in the middle of the New Orleans-Baton Rouge route. It has easy access to shopping and I-10. I get why it's popular, especially among families where one may commute to Baton Rouge, the other to New Orleans. Doesn't shock me that the value of land increased as you noticed.

I may be mistaken, but I don't believe that area flooded either.