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Update 2 on the Louisiana sinkhole in Assumption Parish.

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Latest post on Louisiana sinkhole HERE.

The question of the day: Why did Texas Brine cease operating the cavern in 2011, plug and abandoned the well used to access it?

The salt cavern in the Napoleonville Dome that was used by Texas Brine might have been closer to the edge of the dome than they originally thought. Oops! Sorry our miscalculation might cause your home to get swallowed up by the earth.

If the edge of the cavern is too close, it could have been breached and allowed brine inside to seep up along the edge of the salt dome, possibly feeding the sinkhole that emerged last week near the Bayou Corne community, officials said.

There is natural gas in the aquifer so a “relief well is under discussion but they can’t figure out where to drill the relief well.

There is an oil sheeen on the surface of the sinkhole. (see earlier post about diesel blanket) Testing of the surface has revealed the hole is “filled primarily with salt water with traces of diesel and oil at the surface.” One resident suggested sampling the contents at the bottom of the sinkhole, which is estimated at 422 feet, to check the salinity. If it has a high salinity that would indicate the salt dome is collapsing.

Nobody seems to have any answers. SOURCE

I have an answer: Wind and solar.

Louisiana Sinkhole Update ONE

Also see: Breaking: Huge sinkhole in Louisiana over natural gas storage area.

About Sharon Wilson

Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.

Comments

    • TXsharon says

      Wow!

      “Chevron Corp’s subsidiary Bridgeline Holdings declared force majeure on new injections into its salt dome storage facility near the sinkhole and the town of Napoleonville, through the rest of the year, according to notice to customers posted on its website.”

      One of my Twitter stalkers denies there is any natgas storage at that facility.

      • GhostBlogger says

        Your twitter stalker needs to do more research:

        An expanding, now nearly almost 160,000 square feet sinkhole, mysteriously combined with earthquakes in Louisiana’s oil and gas swampland have caused Chevron Corp’s subsidiary Bridgeline Holdings gas energy company to take measures to protect local life and property by halting its nearby pipeline activities and draw down fuel at its nearby storage cavern, according to Reuters on Wednesday.

        “Chevron Corp’s subsidiary Bridgeline Holdings declared force majeure on new injections into its salt dome storage facility near Napoleonville, through the rest of the year, according to a company filing late Tuesday,” Reuters reported.

        http://www.examiner.com/article/swamp-s-seismic-sinkhole-shifts-chevron-shuts-pipelines-draws-down-fuel

  2. Leonard Huff III says

    Hi Sharon,
    I have been out of pocket for a few days working and I notice your today’s article was about plugging ect. a well or ect. I always enjoy reading your articles. They have always had a way of taking my mind off the hustle and problem of today’s problems that I deal with for a few hours.

    If you go the RRC site and research the site of the “New” articles from the RRC about plugging, you will see that it is right up your alley. I know that you will research the article and education the people that need to learn about it. It will help the battle that your face every day. Good Luck and God Speed. Download the Excel spread sheet and it will show you what,when,how and maybe why what the problems are in the State of Texas. You are smart enough to figure it out. If you need any help, let me know. I am willing to do that for a cause that need to be fix right for the enviroment. I live in it now and for my heirs.

    I talked a RRC Rep. in my local district about some wells(about six months ago) that I was interested in taking over as a operator(not me, but someone else) to try and get on line as production(if it work out) and then taking over the plugging responsiblitty(if production did not work) from the prior operator. The RRC person told me just be cool becaue something “Big” was comming down the pipeline and to be patience. You know what, I did not jump the gun.

    Sometimes a person or business gets tired of their current projects and their will slowing give up on it. Look at all the “slum” landlords in the major citites making money off the poor tennants in the big cities who cannont afford a decent place to live. They will make no improvements to the building, but keep collecting the rent month after month without regards to the tenant family or health. Thank about It. Maybe the same thing applies to the Oil & Gas Industry or any other business. Look around the area that you live in and you will notice it.

    I was surprise about the RRC announcemant, because if your would download the list of wells that are involved it is very massive. Pages after pages, county after county. It blew me out of the water!

    The Goverment of Texas finally put some teeth in the RRC to enforce alot of operators(Exxon,El Paso,Chevron,Ect…….) to get off their butts and do somthing about the “Big” problem in the State of Texas about the problem with orphan wells. I know, my family had a few of them were I live. If these operators do did not follow thru with these new orders from the RRC the operators will lose their operator license which means they cannot sale oil & gas in the state of Texas. Think about it . What would you do. Plug wells under their watchful eyes. Belive me, the RRC will be watching and supervision the plugging events.

    I think you read Elizabeth’s blog in South Texas, and I commented on her blog, that when a person is fighting the gaints of the industry and your up against the wall and losing hope and faith, something postive will come along and the battle will change in a heart beep.

    I belive that time has come for both of you.

    Good luck. I know deep down the tide has turn for both of your. As the old timer said, take it to bank!

    Have A Nice Day!

    • TXsharon says

      Yes, Leonard, you are right. Slum landlords. We appreciate any help you can give us. We are just trying to live our lives.

      We LOVE Mrs. Elizabeth Burns. Totally LOVE her.

  9. GhostBlogger says

    Things could get really exciting there if that sinkhole reaches a nearby butane storage cavern with 1.5 million barrels of butane in it:

    Sinkhole: H-Bomb explosion equivalent in Bayou Corne possible

    http://www.examiner.com/article/sinkhole-h-bomb-explosion-equivalent-bayou-corne-possible

    Sinkhole: Now 372 feet diameter, Only 1500 feet from butane-filled cavern

    http://www.examiner.com/article/sinkhole-now-372-feet-diameter-only-1500-feet-from-butane-filled-cavern?cid=PROD-redesign-right-next

    Since butane is heavier than air, it will spread out from any leak there. Note that the Ufa explosion in the old USSR in 1989 was estimated to be anywhere from 250 to 10,000 tons of TNT equivalent. That was caused by a leaking NGL (mostly propane & butane) pipeline. The operators of that pipeline saw dropping pressure, but decided to just turn the pumps up instead of looking for the leak. 2 passenger trains were in the vapor cloud when it exploded, killing about 575, and burning dozens more.

  13. alan beauvais says

    becauase of big hum natural oil deposit just adjacent to the to the cavern built to close to the sidewall of the sediment material and disasterisly close to a large oil deposit under extreme pressure at about 6000ft. the oil pocket has broke thru into the dome because of the man made cavern. creating the sinkhole by displaceing sedament. oil is pushing up thru the displaced sediment and filling the upper level methane pockets to let the oil eventually serface from the preasure of the big hum .at the same time letting water down to desolve the salt dome. the bass of the dome is 15000ft deep the peek is 700 the tremers are from the salt desolveing and the land sinking.
    the experts knom percisely what is happening their just not saying what they already know for easons that i cant understand. this is so scarry and incredibly sad to see whats to come. when i realized my heart pounded because i got such a bad feeling about this.. this area will see the worst man made disaster that the world has ever seen by thousands of times great than whatever man made disaster we have seen so far. so sorry all.
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