http://freedomrox.wordpress.com/2013/02/10/louisiana-sinkhole-answers-are-forthcoming/
and....
http://lasinkhole.wordpress.com/2013/02/09/weekend-news-6/
Louisiana Sinkhole: Answers are Forthcoming
(Photo courtesy of LDNR)
A meeting was held on February 6, 2013 and was pre-empted by an impromptu disruption by one Cathy Simoneaux. I have no opinon of her allegations.
Unfortuately, this sensationalised story took the center stage and prevented a much greater understanding of the actual issues at hand. Many speakers gave presentations, and for once the residents of Bayou Corne got far more answers than they were prepared to handle.
Residents were literally diluged with information that took most off-guard, and having to view the videos to get even half the information that was imparted to them. This is truly understandable, considering the months of stone-walling, and jibber-jabber with no real answers. This is not the case now.
Finally an understanding of the Bayou Corne ‘Sinkhole’ may be at hand. Instead of boring you with a run down of each and every presentation, let’s just introduce the Presenters, their affiliations, and their results in a quick nutshell.
First, we had Shaw and the Louisiana Office of Conservation that hired petroleum geophysicist Don Marlin to interpret three-dimensional seismic data that Texas Brine Co. LLC is planning to collect around the sinkhole.
According to the 2007 ‘proprietary 3-D survey’ obtained from Golden Gate Petroleum, the small .3 mile survey was presented as thus:
Source: http://tinyurl.com/aurdts2 (Pages 12 and 13)
According to Mr. Marlin, blah, blah, blah. (I can do this, no one can fire me from my own blog) <This view is from the West, as if you were looking at it from Bayou Corne>
Truth is, this 3-D Survey reveals some very telling details. Although not definitive, it seems the working theory is this: Texas Brine milled out a section around 2350 ft. right on a major fault section closest to the casing, not considering they had very little salt to work with there. The salt is either washed away and damaging the shale formations close to the fault line, or overpumped freshwater in the millout to have accomplished the same thing.
(Start at the 5 Min. mark if it does not go there)
Here, Mr. Gary Hecox admits the geologists of the time thought the salt extended out another 1,000 ft. in 1982, yet fails to mention the voluminous records of SONAR surveys, (latest was 1997), or the Vertical Seismic Profile in 2007, which definitvely showed the cavern laying upon the shale sheath.
(Additionally a lower, lesser fault line is shown and not identified as such further north and under the sinkhole, running along the blade of the knife-looking structure in the graphic.)
This gave the fault the impetus to become active, (meaning fracturing the fault line rock formations), until over a matter of a year and a half; the fault grows bigger as does the mini-quakes, fracturing more rock as it grew, until it essentially shook the shale sheath, (upwards and downwards equally), to pieces and caused the cave in, which in turn took out the remaining shale sheath at depth and cracked the cavern portion that was known to be laying entirely on the shale rock sheath, and this caused the frack out.
This reached to a depth of about 6000 ft. since the overburfen pressures caused a momentary pressure of over 7,000 psi. It was a mighty geological explosion, as evidenced by it clearing a path to the surface, and the sinkhole culminating outside the salt dome. Most sinkholes have occured over the top of salt domes, so this is truly a geological first, and at the same level of the oil, gas, and water formations that were pressuring the shale sheath from the west side. A fact known since 2007 by LDNR, Texas Brine, and by the owner of the property, Occidental Chemical Corp.
This information should have been known months ago. The 3 D survey would have shown it just as well then, if not for Golden Gates ‘Proprietary’ legalese. In an emergency situation, nothing should be held up for months over ‘proprietary’ concerns.
Also looking at the depth of the hydrocarbon formations, then there are many culprits at varying depths, but since Oxy 3A is still producing hydrocarbons, then we do know it is at depths greater than 3700 ft. in that area. What is not known is essentially whether the uppermost formation is feeding the sinkhole or not..
I am publishing this small amount tonight, but will update tomorrow, as many other unknowns are becoming ‘knowns’. I believe the information should be there for anyone to understand, and I will endeavor over the coming days to do just that….
(To be continued)
The NEW Seismo Monitor Locations
7
and....
http://lasinkhole.wordpress.com/2013/02/09/weekend-news-6/
Weekend News
The SHAW GROUP has put up its charts and info used at the Feb. 6thCommunity Meeting up on the DNR website.
The new DNR Inspection Report is out. Does this make sense?? They abandon work at well pad 3 because of ‘seismic activity’ but go ahead full blast with dilling at ORW #4…
Oxy-Geismar Water Well #3 (grey pump station on right just before the sinkhole):
. . . . Well Pad 3 is closed to personnel due to recent seismic activity.
but at the bottom of the report -
ORW #4 (Observation Relief Well #4) (off HWY 70 b/w cabins & TX BRINE facility):
Remarks: Shut In due to nearby rig/drilling work on G-03 geophone well.
. . . . Well Pad 3 is closed to personnel due to recent seismic activity.
but at the bottom of the report -
ORW #4 (Observation Relief Well #4) (off HWY 70 b/w cabins & TX BRINE facility):
Remarks: Shut In due to nearby rig/drilling work on G-03 geophone well.
NOTE: Due to sudden and large global seismic activity you may find earthquake bulletins at our parent blog, The Flying Cuttle Picayune. There are live seismic activity world maps at Radioactive Chat. Some foreign huge quakes may show on the Bayou Corne helicorders. There was a 7.0quake just now in Columbia.
Are Sinkhole Barfs a Precursor to a Large Earthquake??
See END of the video in the next post . . .
The New Madrid earthquake of 1811 had them before it blew.
More on Mystery Booms & Earthquakes – On GAS RELEASES Making Booms(!)
LINK - http://youtu.be/xEqCRtSZ96k
He mentions Brontide events. Wikpedia says:
Brontide is a type of rumbling noise heard occasionally in some parts of the world, probably caused by seismic activity.
http://www.stuarthsmith.com/new-sinkhole-outrage-homeowners-are-losing-insurance/
NEW SINKHOLE OUTRAGE: HOMEOWNERS ARE LOSING INSURANCE
So far about the only thing that hasn’t happened to the beleaguered residents of Louisiana’s Assumption Parish is a plague of locusts.
Yet.
Since last summer, homeowners in and around the Bayou Corne community, about 70 miles west of New Orleans, have been dealing with the effects of a massive sinkhole. Some 150 families were forced out of their homes in early August, with no indication of when they’ll be allowed to return. They’ve felt the earth move under their feet, and watches strange, malodorous gases bubble up from the swamp. There’ve been warnings over what’s in the air that they breathe — about methane and radium and toxic chemicals. All the while, the hole in the ground — caused by a failing salt cavern belonging to the Texas Brine Co. — nears the size of the Louisiana Superdome.
Now this: Homeowners who’ve been driven from their homes because of this environmental calmnity are losing their insurance:
BAYOU CORNE — Louisiana Commissioner of Insurance Jim Donelon said Tuesday his office is making a general inquiry into allegations that insurers are not renewing homeowner’s policies of residents evacuated due to the large sinkhole in Assumption Parish.
Donelon cautioned that his office has not received a formal complaint but has been asked by the parish Police Jury to look into the matter and more recently was informed by the Independent Insurance Agents of Louisiana about alleged non-renewal of policies.
What’s going on?
In interviews with two evacuated residents and parish officials in the past two weeks, some said insurers were not renewing or had threatened not to renew their policies because their homes had been left vacant for more than 30 days.
In another case, a non-renewal letter cited “increased hazard” and a “substantial change in risk” after a resident filed a claim due to tremor-induced damage. The claim was also denied. The resident and company agreed to part ways.
Residents also reported agents asked them to consider policies designed to cover vacant dwellings.
Unfortunately, this sounds like the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Local officials tell the Advocate newspaper that there’s certainly more than a couple of homeowners involved. It appears that many residents will be protected by Louisiana insurance laws that allowed thousands to continue their policies after natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina — but the scope of the situation still isn’t clear.
To me, this all smacks of the same problem we’ve seen with the sinkhole since Day One: A completely passive — and wholly inadequate — response to a crisis that just keeps getting worse by the hour. Let’s review: It all starts when state regulators chose to ignore an early 2011 warning from Texas Brine Co. of serious structural problems with the salt cavern — compounded by failing to react to the tremors, bubbling gases, and other warning signs over the summer of 2012.
Since the sinkhole emerged, the guiding force of the Jindal administration has been this: Hoping the problem goes away. Gov. Bobby Jindal refuses to visit the site — just an hour’s drive from his back door — and Louisiana has largely ceded the heavy lifting to Texas Brine. whose main passion has been trying to deny blame for the problem. Now we have local officials begging Baton Rouge to sort out this insurance mess.
The Jindal administration needs to majorly step up its game here. It needs to push for a timetable when the residents of Bayou Corne can safely return to their homes, with solid ground under their feet and clean air to breathe, and it needs to guarantee there won’t be dire consequences — like the lack of homeowners’ insurance — for citizens because of the negligence of large corporations and state regulators.
And it needs to start today.
To read coverage from the Advocate about the insurance cancellations in Assumption Parish, check out: http://theadvocate.com/news/5109404-123/residentsinsurancepoliciescanceled
For my Jan. 22 blog post asking why Gov. Jindal is afraid to visit the sinkhole, please read: http://www.stuarthsmith.com/why-is-gov-jindal-afraid-of-visiting-the-sinkhole/
For full coverage from this blog about the sinkhole crisis, check out:http://www.stuarthsmith.com/category/featured-news/louisiana-sinkhole/
