http://enenews.com/ap-officials-say-sinkhole-expected-to-grow-as-land-falls-in-tv-i-believe-that-they-are-hiding-a-lot-of-the-information-video
http://www.
nbc33tv.com/news/your-stories/residents-prepare-for-sta
Title: Exploratory well into sinkhole almost complete
Source: Associated Press
Date: September 20, 2012 at 3:05 a.m.
Source: Associated Press
Date: September 20, 2012 at 3:05 a.m.
[...]State Commissioner of Conservation James Welsh said Wednesday that Texas Brine Co., the company that owns the brine cavern believed to be at fault, will be breaching the cavern Thursday afternoon.[...]The sinkhole is at least 476 feet wide but authorities say they expect it to grow as the surrounding environment sloughs in.
http://theadvocate.com/news/3956534-123/breakdown-delays-drill-in-sinkhole
http://enenews.com/new-sinkhole-map-shows-over-25-bubble-sites-in-area-of-salt-dome-photos
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http://theadvocate.com/home/3945742-125/another-edge-of-bayou-corne
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Title: Residents prepare for start of drilling toward top of brine cavern
Source: WVLA NBC 33
Author: Kris Cusanza
Date: Sept 19, 2012
Breakdown delays drill in sinkhole probe
A mechanical breakdown halted the final push Friday to finish a well that will be used to peer into an abandoned salt cavern suspected as the cause of a sinkhole in Assumption Parish, but drillers were poised to resume their drive Saturday morning to discover what the mysterious cavern might reveal.
Parish officials had said they hoped drillers would be able to break through the top of Texas Brine Co.’s salt cavern by Friday afternoon, a step that would clear the way for a variety of high-tech tests on the cavern’s condition.
Drilling has been under way for more than a month, despite delays from Hurricane Isaac and drilling equipment replacement for the final push down.
“The resumption of drilling is not expected to occur until early Saturday morning,” Texas Brine officials said in a statement Friday.
The mechanical failure was reported about 9:45 a.m. Friday by parish officials in a blog post.
The sinkhole was found Aug. 3 in Texas Brine swampland property between the Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou communities south of La. 70 South, prompting the evacuation of residents from about 150 homes in the vicinity. The sinkhole appeared after two months of natural gas releases in area waterways and earth tremors, both of which have continued.
The sinkhole, which has grown larger as dirt and trees on its rim have sloughed off and fallen into the water since it emerged, including this week, is now about 475 feet across and an estimated 4 acres in size, according to new parish dimensions.
The Louisiana Department of Natural Resources ordered the well be drilled after scientists suspected a nearby company salt cavern in the Napoleonville Dome failed, released its brine contents and caused the sinkhole.
John Boudreaux, director of the parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said Friday’s mechanical failure involved a mud pump near the bit at the tip of the drill pipe.
He said the failure forced the entire drill pipe to be removed Friday so the bit and pump could be replaced and reinserted in the drill hole, which has reached 3,180 feet in depth. The bit had reached a point about 300 feet above the cavern roof, Texas Brine officials said.
Boudreaux said the mud pump is used to circulate drilling mud, which is used to lubricate the drilling process and bring excavated material to the surface.
Barring other delays, Texas Brine spokesman Sonny Cranch said, drillers, once work begins Saturday, might be able to reach the cavern roof in about 10 to 12 hours.
Boudreaux said that once the drillers break through the cavern roof, they will have to take time to clean out the well bore before they start putting scientific probes into the cavern.
He said the first planned operation will be a seismic test on the cavern. But he also said entry into the cavern itself could provide early indications about cavern conditions.
For instance, if the drilling mud stops returning the surface and falls downward in the cavern, this could indicate the salt cavern has lost its brine, Boudreaux said.
The abandoned cavern had been filled with brine and diesel by operators. Similar materials have been found inside the sinkhole.
Should a gas pocket be hit, Boudreaux said, drilling mud might not fall away, but natural gas could spurt up the well bore and have be vented off before any tests could be done.
During the weeks-long drilling process, other developments have emerged, state and parish officials said:
- DNR officials said Friday that data from natural gas sampling in Bayou Corne have been posted on the agency’s website at http://dnr.louisiana.gov/index.cfm?md=pagebuilder&tmp=home&pid=961. However, the chemical simplicity of natural gas compounds requires greater expertise and time than the analysis of other, more complex hydrocarbons.
- More of the sinkhole’s bank caved in for a second time in three days Thursday morning as a 25-foot-long section fell into the water after 200-foot-long section had sloughed off Tuesday evening.
During a Thursday community meeting in Pierre Part, where state officials were not present, questions were raised about state agency transparency and the status of “fingerprint” tests on natural gas being released from area bayous and found in an underlying aquifer.
One man claimed the testing could be done in hours by industry, although the current testing has been going on for weeks.
Officials have been trying to see what could be source of the natural gas in the Bayou Corne area. The bubbles could be related to natural gas exploration and production activities in the area, for example.
Office of Conservation Commissioner Jim Welsh said Friday most forms of natural gas are “extremely simple compounds with minute differentiations” and they offer less criteria for analysis and comparison.
“Our top focus is identifying this natural gas so we can make the results available to the public and hold any contributing party accountable,” Welsh said in the statement.
“Because there are several different ways to read natural gas, these samples require specialized interpretation and, often, additional samples for expert analysis.”
While Illinois-based Isotech Laboratories was hired to analyze samples and is continuing the work, Welsh’s office has asked Shaw Group to hire an expert who has asked for additional data and analysis, the office news release said.
Results will be made available as soon as they are obtained, the news release said.
The sinkhole’s banks have occasionally collapsed as Texas Brine and DNR officials have predicted.
The latest collapse, or slough, happened Thursday on the east side of the sinkhole. Several trees were lost in the collapse that went out about 40 feet from the edge and took under about 1,000 square feet of earth, parish officials said in blog posts this week.
The prior collapse on Tuesday happened on the southwest corner of the sinkhole near a pipeline corridor and pulled down 4,000 square feet of dirt and trees, parish officials said.
http://enenews.com/new-sinkhole-map-shows-over-25-bubble-sites-in-area-of-salt-dome-photos
Follow-up to: TV: Officials report more bubbling around sinkhole -- Now over 20 sites have appeared (VIDEO)
Map of the wells and bubble event locations in the Napoleonville Salt Dome and Bayou Corne areas
Source: Louisiana Department of Natural Resources
Date: Sept. 21, 2012
Source: Louisiana Department of Natural Resources
Date: Sept. 21, 2012
Napoleonville Salt Dome Area
Here are closeups of the areas with higher concentrations of bubble sites:
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Sinkhole Blackout! What Are They Hiding?
Thursday, September 20, 2012 19:18
Why would Assumption Parish officials contact media and other officials and urge them to ‘censor’ a meeting being held for concerned residents about the Louisiana sinkhole? What is really going on down there? Meanwhile, for the 2nd time in 3 days, the sinkhole has taken another giant ‘gulp’ from planet Earth, swallowing up twenty-five more feet of the planet. Learn all about Mother Nature’s voracious appetite for Earth from Examiner.com’s Deborah Dupre.
According to Deborah, after Unified Command officials refused a request from residents, some living only 2,000 feet from the sinkhole disaster, to attend their Emergency Town Hall Meeting, Assumption Parish officials contacted the media and other officials to urge them to shun the meeting, according to a local community advocate and organizer.
What are the officials in Louisiana hiding? This recent video gives an in depth discussion of the sinkhole’s recent expansion, earthquakes increasing in the area and the bubbling, ‘radioactive’ water of this potentially massive disaster. The Emergency Update video below is from The Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle.
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http://theadvocate.com/home/3945742-125/another-edge-of-bayou-corne
Another edge of Bayou Corne sinkhole caves in Thursday
BAYOU CORNE — The outer edge of a sinkhole in Assumption Parish has caved in for a second time in three days, parish officials said Thursday.
A 25-foot-long section of embankment fell in Thursday morning after a 200-foot-long section had fallen in Tuesday evening, parish officials said in blog posts this week.
The sinkhole was found on the property of Texas Brine Co. LLC of Houston on Aug. 3 and has had occasional edge collapses since then, a situation Texas Brine and Louisiana Department of Natural Resources officials have said is expected.
The falling edges are filling in part of the sinkhole as the hole, also know as a slurry area or slurry hole, finds its level.
Texas Brine officials have said they expect the sinkhole, which as one at point had a measured deep spot of 422 feet, to become a shallow depression.
The latest collapse, or slough in, happened on the east side of the sinkhole. Several trees were lost in the collapse, which went out about 40 feet from the edge and took in about 1,000 square feet of earth, parish officials said.
The collapse on Tuesday happened on the southwest corner of the sinkhole near a pipeline corridor and pulled down 4,000 square feet of earth, parish officials said.
Over the past few weeks, the sinkhole had a relatively stable period, even through Hurricane Isaac, with the edge not having any apparent cave-ins, Texas Brine spokesman Sonny Cranch has said.
John Boudreaux, director of the Assumption Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said Thursday that Texas Brine has set up instruments around the sinkhole that should be able to show why the latest collapses have occurred.
He said he has asked for that information from Texas Brine.
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Title: Residents prepare for start of drilling toward top of brine cavern
Source: WVLA NBC 33
Author: Kris Cusanza
Date: Sept 19, 2012
[...]Bayou Corne resident Bucky Mistreta [said] “We have some concerns because if they feel like they have to give us a 48 hour notice then that means they can expect trouble.”[...]He’s worried a new sinkhole or even an explosion could happen during the drilling process.“There is more seismic activity in the area just like there was before the original sinkhole,” said Mistreta.
[...][Donald Gros, Bayou Corne resident] said,” I believe that they are hiding a lot of the information. They are giving us some stuff don’t get me wrong, but I believe that they are hiding a lot of important information that they don’t want people to know about.”
http://www.
nbc33tv.com/news/your-stories/residents-prepare-for-sta
Residents prepare for start of drilling toward top of brine cavern
Kris Cusanza
POSTED: Wednesday, September 19, 2012 - 8:00pm
UPDATED: Wednesday, September 19, 2012 - 8:04pm
ASSUMPTION PARISH,LA (NBC33) — Officials with Texas Brine Company say they could start drilling to the top of the brine cavern early Thursday morning.
From there it will take around 48 hours to reach the top of the brine cavern.
Though that's the most critical part of the drilling, it's the one residents have the most concern about.
People living in the evacuation zone got a warning yesterday to be prepared for the start of drilling now they say they're doing everything they can to be safe.
"The big thing is not knowing what's going to happen not knowing how safe you are," said Bayou Corne resident Bucky Mistreta. "We have some concerns because if they feel like they have to give us a 48 hour notice then that means they can expect trouble."
He's worried a new sinkhole or even an explosion could happen during the drilling process.
"There is more seismic activity in the area just like there was before the original sinkhole," said Mistreta. "Who knows could there be a new sinkhole right underneath our property."
He says he's not waiting around to see if something bad happens.
"We are in the process right now of taking some of our valuables and some prize possession that we have with us taking them and putting them in a safe place," said Mistreta.
Others residents plan to stay put. Assumption Parish Officials say a mandatory evacuation will remain in place until tests are complete at the cavern. But, Residents say they don't have the means to leave.
Donald Gros, Bayou Corne resident, said, "I wonder a lot if they are going to come knocking on my door and tell me I got to leave. "
People living in the area say there are still a lot of unanswered questions and they are not sure what to expect now that the drill is inching closer and closer to the top of the brine cavern.
Gros said," I believe that they are hiding a lot of the information. They are giving us some stuff don't get me wrong, but I believe that they are hiding a lot of important information that they don't want people to know about."
Assumption Parish officials say they will continue to monitor the situation and will continue to keep residents informed with their blog. They say there is no time frame for how long it will take for answers to come once test begin inside the brine cavern.
Parish officials say there has also been an increase in the number of bubble sites on the bayou. Right officials estimate there are over 20 sites.
Anyone with questions is asked to call the Assumption Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness at 985-369-7386 or visit their command post at Bayou Corne.
According to the state Office of Conservation Thursday will mark the 33rd day since drilling operations began, and the 39th since the permit was issued. Barring any unexpected downhole conditions, tomorrow's cavern entry would be ahead of schedule for the 40-day drill that was originally estimated in mid-August - an estimate that did not include having to shut down operations for four days due to Hurricane Isaac.
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