Residents in a small town in Louisiana are complaining of loud rumblings and vibrations they say began after a private equity-owned waste management company installed a facility across the river.

Iberville Parish has been receiving complaints about vibrations since VLS Environmental Solutions set up operations on the Mississippi River across from Plaquemine Point approximately two years ago, according to a parish council meeting held in January. 

VLS Environmental Solutions is a waste management and marine services company owned by I Squared Capital, a private equity firm based in Miami, Florida. 

In 2022, VLS expanded into Iberville's parish seat, Plaquemine, where it installed its 'Sunshine Facility,' which is intended to provide full-service barge cleaning and repair along the Mississippi River, according to the company's website. 

According to local residents across the river, operations at the facility emit disruptive low-frequency sounds that disturb their sleep and cause damage to their homes, according to parish council meeting minutes. 

'It pierces your head. It's not really loud when you're outside. But when you get on the porch, you begin to hear it really intensely,' local resident Kyte Aymond said at the meeting, according to The Advocate. 

Les Ann Kirkland, another resident, said: 'I lived in an old house, very solid, 100 years old, it never shook until those people came there,' the outlet reported. 

Rebecca said the vibrations have cracked her driveway, according to the council meeting minutes. 

However, a recent study conducted by the town, found nothing out of the ordinary.

Iberville Parish conducted a study that found no frequencies outside the normal range being emitted from the site, according to NOLA. 

'No events were recorded with a low frequency, and some of our issues or complaints were that these incidents were low frequency, which may be a little more intense than what you would imagine,' Iberville Parish Executive Director of Economic Development John Clark told the Parish Council, the outlet reported. 

The study was carried out by IVC Technologies using multiple devices designed to measure the intensity of the alleged vibrations. 

Two of the devices were intended to record data between May 22 and July 13, but one malfunctioned and displayed a blank data card at the end of the study period, according to NOLA. 

The cause of the technical issue is unclear. 

'There were no events recorded with low-frequency sound that would cause rumbling or shaking of structures,' the report seen by NOLA stated. 

Residents expressed skepticism about the findings. 

'I don't think they hired the right kind of people to come do the study and used the right kind of equipment,' Roxanne Traigle, who lives near the river, told NOLA. 

The parish is open to conducting further tests, according to the outlet.