Saturday, September 22, 2012

Sinkhole updates - September 26 and 27th....

http://enenews.com/revealing-new-flyover-footage-giant-sinkhole-shows-signs-further-expansion-video



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The grass road last month:









http://enenews.com/new-collapse-at-sinkhole-took-many-trees-and-part-of-road-1500-square-feet-lost

 9:00 a.m. Morning Update

Source: Assumption Parish Police Jury
Date: Sept 26, 2012
Overnight, there was a 30’ x 50’ slough in on the SE side of the sinkhole (towards Texas Brine). The slough in took many trees and part of the road that was built to park excavators on to resume cleanup activities. This area has never sloughed in before as opposed to previous slough-ins that have taken place in the same spots along the embankment of the sinkhole.
Tests continue to be run in the cavern. Once any results are available, they will be shared.
A bubbling spot was observed on Bayou Drive in Pierre Part. DEQ will take samples today that will determine if this bubbling is natural gas or “swamp gas”. Monitoring was done by OEP and there were no harmful risks detected.
We will hold a resident briefing this Saturday, September 29, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. The location is tentatively set for here at the command post; however, the weather forecast may force us to move indoors. We will advise you with details closer to Saturday through blog posts and a notification phone call.











10:45 AM EST on September 25th, 2012 | 35 comments

CONFIRMED: Salt cavern below sinkhole has failed

04:26 AM EST on September 25th, 2012 | 18 comments

Company Officials: Tremors have damaged salt cavern below sinkhole — 1,300 ft shallower than expected — ‘Dense material’ has fallen to bottom










Title: Seismic activity near cavern linked to sinkhole
Source:  The Advocate
Author: David J. Mitchell
Date: September 24, 2012
Regional seismic activity damaged an abandoned Texas Brine Co. salt cavern that has been suspected to be the cause of a 4-acre sinkhole in Assumption Parish, company officials said late Monday.
A tool used to measure the depth of the underground cavern found its bottom is 1,300 feet shallower than it should be, indicating “some type of dense material has fallen to the bottom of the cavern,” Texas Brine officials said in a statement.
[...]
Tremors and natural gas bubbles in area waterways preceded the formation of the sinkhole by about two months.
[...]
Parish officials have released a total of four flyover videos today which can be seen here






and.....








http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cegmrdgc69w&feature=plcp

( look at the size of the sinkhole now 1 )


Sinkhole Flyover 09/24/12


 
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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
Napoleonville Salt Dome Area
Here are closeups of the areas with higher concentrations of bubble sites:
and...

http://lasinkhole.wordpress.com/2012/09/22/saturday-sinkhole-update/

Saturday Sinkhole UPDATE – - drilling may be done tonight

ETA on reaching the cavern supposedly a day away but they keep having these stoppages. They also say, for now, the sinkhole is not sloughing in anymore. They say they are bringing in a slough-in predictor.
Breakdown delays drill in sinkhole probe – The Advocate, By David J. Mitchell
“. . . .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. . . .”
“. . . .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. . . .”


and.....

http://www.examiner.com/article/quake-fire-then-mexican-pipeline-blast-kills-30-sinkhole-residents-fear-same


Thursday, as Bayou Corne residents expressed fearing an explosion at a vulnerable oil and gas-related sinkhole in their community, Mexico's state-run oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, said 30 workers have died instantly or are in the hospital and dozens others are injured from an explosion and fire at a plant near the U.S. border Tuesday where illegal pipeline tapping is suspected as a cause.

"The blast occurred at a reception plant near the border city of Reynosa that receives natural gas and condensates from Pemex's sprawling Burgos gas fields," reports Wall Street Journal.

This was the third fire at a Pemex gas facility in five weeks, possibly suggesting larger problems, such as safety and security regulations needing to be addressed.

The fiery blast rocked homes as far as the City of McAllen, Texas and other Rio Grande Valley communities," according to Eagle Pass Business Journal.

"The billowing smoke for the PEMEX Refinery explosion was visible in Texas cities such as McAllen, which is approximately less than 10 miles from the explosion site.

A five (5) mile square radius around the PEMEX Oil Refinery was immediately closed and evacuated in case a bigger second explosion occurred.
Authorities who are investigating the blast suspect illegal tapping of pipelines by criminal groups.

Illegal oil and gas tapping goes back a long way in the United States.

In 1977, Texaco was caught criminally siphoning huge amounts of natural gas that belonged to the people, for its own purposes. It illegally diverted the gas from federal offshore fields to its refinery in Texas.

Since September 2010, there have been more than 3,700 oil industry accidents in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the non-government watchdog group, Louisiana Bucket Brigade.

Sinkhole area residents fear explosion after 1000s of quakes and dangerously high levels of hydrocarbons fill swampland area

Thursday night, Bayou Corne and area residents gathered to share their fear of an explosion and gather information they say they are not getting from Unified Command, government officials representing seven government agencies involved in the disaster.
The residents have been subjected to thousands of earthquakes and methane gas leaking in their community.
Dr. Wilma Subra had released a report earlier Thursday indicating that the sinkhole is over half-full of hydrocarbons possibly in the flammable range.
There is no fire ban in the sinkhole area, as Assumption Parish officials have repeatedly advised.
The Louisiana Department of Natural Resources has required any of the seven industry operators in the salt dome below the area to flare or vent gas if it is leaking from their operation.
The Louisiana sinkhole disaster has resulted in a state emergency declaration and mandatory evacuation.
"This needs to be a federal issue," activist Cherri Fotlyn asserted at the meeting.

The White House has remained silent about the Assumption Parish oil and gas sinkhole emergency situation.


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