Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2015

[Emily]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

http://theadvocate.com/news/5854127-123/sinkhole-commissioners-to-brief-public

Sinkhole commissioners to brief public Wednesday night

BY DAVID J. MITCHELL

River Parishes bureau

May 01, 2013
0 Comments

A majority of the 13-member Blue Ribbon Commission investigating the Assumption Parish sinkhole plans to attend a community meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Napoleonville to deliver a public briefing on the panel?s work to date, state regulators said Tuesday.
[snip]
Courreges said the commissioners, who already had been given a briefing on the sinkhole, remarked Monday that seeing the scale of the sinkhole up close and learning of the extensive responses to it were ?eye-opening.?

He reiterated DNR?s and several outside scientists? belief that a cavern failure of the kind that happened in Bayou Corne, as well as the sinkhole that resulted, have never happened in the collective experience of mining salt dome caverns with freshwater.

?Nobody has ever seen anything like this before,? Courreges said...

 

[Emily]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

http://theadvocate.com/home/5883561-125/some-work-halted-when-tremors

Some work halted when tremors hit Assumption sinkhole

By DAVID J. MITCHELL

River Parishes bureau

May 03, 2013
0 Comments

Another moderate increase in tremors near the Assumption Parish sinkhole has prevented work on the 15.1-acre swampland hole since Wednesday, parish officials said Friday...

 

[Emily]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

http://theadvocate.com/home/5913363-125/sinkhole-burps-again-site-work

Sinkhole burps again, site work remains halted

By DAVID J. MITCHELL

River Parishes bureau

May 07, 2013
0 Comments

The Assumption Parish sinkhole near the Bayou Corne community produced one of its periodic burps early Tuesday after several days of increased seismic activity suggested another might be coming, parish officials said.

Scientists working on the sinkhole recorded a certain kind of seismic signal known as a ?very long period? event at 3:24 a.m. Tuesday, officials said in a brief blog post. ?And it is likely that this is when the burp happened,? officials said...

 

[Tonka]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

Apparently a new bubbling site has been found.

HUGE Methane Bubble Site Found Within 100 ft Of Bayou Corne Homes...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3c-Rqum7tM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[mixin]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

http://assumptionla.wordpress.com/

May 5
The Office of Conservation, in consultation with Assumption Parish Incident Command, is advising the public that the Oxy 3/sinkhole monitoring alert status has been raised to Code 3 ? requiring all work directly on the sinkhole, Oxy 3 pad and within the containment berm to cease until further notice. Seismic monitoring had detected a sustained increase in the trend of micro-earthquake (MEQ) activity in the area around the sinkhole and Oxy 3 over the past week, and a marked uptick in MEQs in the past day. This pattern of MEQ increase has been identified as an indicator of likely shifting and sloughing in the sinkhole and the area below it, based on past observations. The seismic activity is limited to the Oxy 3/sinkhole area, showing no indication of impact to the Oxy 1 area. Monitoring is constantly ongoing in the area and Conservation will advise the public of significant changes in subsurface conditions.

May 7:
Early this morning, there was a burp in the sinkhole. Dr. Hecox has reported that seismic monitors recorded a VLP (very long period seismic signal) at 3:24 a.m. and it is likely that this is when the burp happened. The monitoring/alert status remains at Code 3, which means all work directly on the sinkhoke, Oxy 3 pad and within the containment berm is ceased until further notice.

May 10:
Texas Brine?s western berm encountered five breaches overnight. Two breaches have been repaired, one breach is small and has not been repaired yet and two larger breaches continue to fill the sinkhole and containment area. Texas Brine has indicated that repairs will occur once water levels have stabilized.

2 Videos posted:

western berm breach
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=427IP5qKfz4


berm breach:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=30jztY9eqBI

 

[mixin]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

It looks pretty bad; water is moving at a good clip on the western side (second photo)

 

[Emily]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

http://theadvocate.com/home/5976085-125/all-5-holes-in-assumption

All 5 holes in Assumption sinkhole?s containment berm now plugged
BY DAVID J. MITCHELL
River Parishes bureau
May 16, 2013

From what Mr. Mitchell reports there and what I read elsewhere, the water was flowing from the swamp into the sinkhole. They don't think water escaped out of the sinkhole into the environment, so that is good.

 

[Emily]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

http://theadvocate.com/news/6047636-123/house-near-sinkhole-burns-after

House near sinkhole burns after lightning strike
BY David J. Mitchell
River Parishes bureau
May 23, 2013

The owners had already evacuated with a lot of their possessions and don't know what they'll do about the house. Texas Brine is still not offering buyouts. That's worrisome regarding the homes where gas has been found in the soil.

Here's some local stories about the inherent dangers of gas leaking into soil around homes:

2 more underground gas leaks found near home explosion

This earlier story was very tragic and I've never been confident about gas heat since since hearing about it:

PSE settles for $8 million in Bellevue gas explosion
The gas was leaking into the ground outside the home, and somehow found it's way into a void that was not picked up when gas company workers checked for the source of an odor earlier. (So even when you can smell natural gas, dangers of underground sources are still hard to evaluate.)
http://www.wutc.wa.gov/webimage.nsf/0/502B6991AEAD2DF588256F0F000281B5

I tried to check county real estate records to see what type of foundation the home had, but the property records were zeroed out and replaced with the new home that took its place.

The responsible parties in the Bayou Corne disaster shouldn't have dragged their feet on buyouts. Short of sending in robots to turn on lights and appliances in homes that have been vacant for awhile in gassy areas, I don't know how this can be handled without risking human life.

 

[Emily]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

http://theadvocate.com/home/6067336-125/texas-brine-to-make-settlement

Texas Brine makes settlement offers to sinkhole evacuees


BY DAVID J. MITCHELL

River Parishes bureau

May 27, 2013
0 Comments

Texas Brine Co. began making settlement offers Friday afternoon to Bayou Corne residents affected by the Assumption Parish sinkhole who have not filed suit against the company, including one recipient who called his, ?woefully low.?..

 

[Emily]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

http://www.ksla.com/story/22499437/400-ft-of-protective-berm-sinks-around-giant-louisiana-sinkhole

400 ft. of protective berm sinks around giant Louisiana sinkhole
Posted: Jun 04, 2013 10:52 AM PST Updated: Jun 04, 2013 11:58 AM PST
Posted by WAFB Staff
BAYOU CORNE, LA (WAFB) -

There are more problems at the site of the giant sinkhole in southeast Louisiana.
MORE
SLIDESHOW: Giant Louisiana Sinkhole

Officials said between 400 and 500 feet of the berm on the south side of the sinkhole, which was set up to help keep possible contaminants from leaking into other parts of the swamp, has now sunk underwater.

They also say trees on the southwest side sinking. Some have sunk up to 10 feet...

Residents think the contaminated sinkhole water may be flowing into the Bayou now:
https://www.facebook.com/BayouCorneSinkhole

Also they say this was a sudden 4 foot subsidence without the same level of warning as far as seismic activity prior to 'burp' and sloughing events. This seems a new type of event and is raising safety concerns and worries about the future.

No official word yet on what could have caused the sudden subsidence, but on May 26th, the Advocate ran this article (see their graphics at link):
http://theadvocate.com/news/6066466-123/rock-to-sinkhole-ratio-a

Rock to sinkhole ratio a mystery
BY DAVID J. MITCHELL
River Parishes bureau
June 04, 2013

BAYOU CORNE — One of the lingering questions surrounding the Assumption Parish sinkhole — raised last fall when fears of more sinkholes emerged — remains an issue of too much rock.

Rock and sediment have nearly filled Texas Brine Co.’s failed underground salt dome cavern, but that volume of earth is far greater than the size of the 15.1-acre sinkhole...

(ETA: I see the date is June 4th on the Advocate article, but I saw it a few days ago and the Google search engine dates it on May 26th.)

 

[Emily]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

http://www.wafb.com/story/22595428/gas-found-beneath-more-homes-near-sinkhole

Gas found beneath more homes near giant Louisiana sinkhole
Posted: Jun 14, 2013 12:51 PM PST Updated: Jun 14, 2013 1:33 PM PST
Posted by Michael Oliver - email
BAYOU CORNE, LA (WAFB) -

Gas has been found underneath two more homes in the Bayou Corne area, near the giant Louisiana sinkhole in Assumption Parish...

 

[Emily]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

http://www.wafb.com/story/22648823/honore-tours-sinkhole

Former General Honore tours giant Louisiana sinkhole
Posted: Jun 20, 2013 3:40 PM PST Updated: Jun 20, 2013 4:47 PM PST
By Cheryl Mercedes

BAYOU CORNE, LA (WAFB) -

The retired United States Army General who brought hope to hundreds of thousands of evacuees after Hurricane Katrina said he is keeping a close eye on Texas Brine, the company that has taken blame for the giant sinkhole in Assumption Parish. Ret. Lt. Gen. Russell Honore said the federal government should help evacuees...

There's a video interview at the link.

 

[Emily]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

Some bad news and good news -

Bad:
Deputies: Teens burglarize Bayou Corne homes evacuated by owners

Good:
Bayou Corne in national spotlight, residents approve

Kris Cusanza Reporter
POSTED: Tuesday, July 9, 2013 - 8:00pm
UPDATED: Wednesday, July 10, 2013 - 12:33pm

BAYOU CORNE, LA (NBC33) ? People living in Bayou Corne are celebrating, because the story of their struggles since the massive sinkhole formed near their homes is gaining national attention. They hope the coverage will help get more people to put pressure on Texas Brine.

"11 months finally somebody else is hearing us," Kenny Simoneaux, Bayou Corne resident said. "The country needs to know about what's happening."
[snip]
People living Bayou Corne say Retired Lieutenant General Russel Honore is the reason the community is getting into the headlines...

Here's a more in-depth article from The Advocate on General Honore's efforts:

Honor?: Feds need to get more involved in sinkhole emergency

BY DAVID J. MITCHELL

River Parishes bureau

July 10, 2013
6 Comments

Russel Honor?, the Army general who stepped in during the early, chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in August 2005, now is a civilian trying to raise the profile of the Bayou Corne sinkhole disaster that began nearly a year ago.

Honor?, who retired with the rank of lieutenant general as commander of the U.S. 1st Army in 2008, questions why the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice have not gotten more involved, pointing to heavy federal involvement after Katrina and the 2010 BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana.

Honor? said the sinkhole disaster would have been handled differently had it occurred near a major East Coast city or been the result of a tornado and not man-made.

?If this was happening outside the city of Boston, OK, the company would not be the principal actor. The federal government would be. That?s the bottom line,? he said in an interview Friday.

Honor? added that the sinkhole, in combination with back-to-back industrial incidents in Ascension Parish last month, a salt dome incident at Lake Peigneur in the early 1980s and a chemical spill last year on the Pearl River have led him to question how the state regulates industry.

?Wait a minute. Are we really making sure these companies are doing what they are supposed to do?? is a question he said he has been asking himself...

Thank you for asking that question! :applause:

 

[mixin]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

Texas Brine has posted a new update:
Unfortunately, copy/paste doesn't work well. Here are the highlights:

* minimal sinkhole growth is expected
* the cavern had been about 96% filled; but due to sediment compaction, it's now about 88% full.
* final sinkhole containment is due to be completed later this month
* the western edge of the dome has remained stable
* no void spaces that could lead to another sinkhole
* no evidence of hydrocarbon pockets that could pose future problems
* 7 relief wells have been installed (27 flaring), 4 additional wells planned
* total gas vented as of 7/18: 15.8 MMCF
* testing being done to identify conditions in the upper 130-140' of subsurface.
* have done and are doing helicopter-borne magnetic geophysical surveys
* well logging is being done to measure changes in the gas zone thickness
* gas flow rates continue to trend down

read the full report here:
http://www.texasbrine.com/response/TBC_Response_Update3_FactSheet-071113-Final.pdf

 

[mixin]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

I find it pretty amazing how this sinkhole is such a shape-shifter.

From the Assumption Parish site:
July 14, 2013
9:45 a.m. Update

Additional hydrocarbon and debris have come to the surface of the sinkhole. Also, John Boudreaux has tagged bottom in the center of the sinkhole (where the raindrop bubbles are occurring) and the depth is over 500′; although, debris was felt at about 175′ to 200′ (while the weight continued to fall to the 500′ depth). Attempts will be made some time this week to measure (with a longer measuring device) to obtain the depth of what is suspected to be the upside down witches hat.
We will update accordingly.

http://assumptionla.wordpress.com/

Here is the latest depth survey I found. On June 7 the bottom was at about 140' and now it's over 500' deep. I wonder if debris creates a false bottom and the "burps" clear it away from the hole which extends much deeper. The depth recorded on July 14 is the deepest that I've seen reported.




http://classic.edsuite.com/proposals/proposals_280/depth_survey_june_2013_fi_655.pdf

 

[Emily]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

I find it pretty amazing how this sinkhole is such a shape-shifter.

Good find, Mixin! There's a news report now (Just saw it linked to from the Facebook site):

BAYOU CORNE, LA (WAFB) -
Officials report they believe the giant sinkhole is much deeper than originally thought and additional materials have surfaced...

 

[Emily]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

http://theadvocate.com/news/6544908-123/state-looking-into-piping-problem

State looking into piping problem in cavern near Bayou Corne sinkhole

BY DAVID J. MITCHELL

River Parishes bureau

July 18, 2013
An internal piping problem inside a Dow Hydrocarbons underground storage cavern in Assumption Parish prompted automatic emergency systems to burn off propylene and shut the cavity, but the situation presents no immediate public safety risk...

The Advocate is waiting to hear back from Dow on this. Part of the pipe is missing for unknown reasons.

 

[mixin]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

We have an update on the Dow cavern:

July 18, 2013
11:40 a.m. Report Investigated

Earlier, a report was made to our office about an incident at the Dow Chemical Facility in Grand Bayou. Below are he findings (from the facility) specific to this report:

Their is a hanging string failure to Dow 3A; however, there are no issues to the packer sleeve or the casing. The cavern is shut in and all of the safety devices did work properly and the product was sent to the flare. Afterwards, the cavern was completely shut in.

They are currently performing an interface log to check the product location, to develop the plan for the work over of the well. All lines are shut in and no product is being moved at this time until the log is complete and a plan is developed.

No risk to the public has been identified and DNR is continuing to investigate this report.

http://assumptionla.wordpress.com/

In other news also at the above link:

July 18, 2013
9:45 a.m. Burp Occurance

We have been advised that there was a burp in the sinkhole sometime overnight. Any additional information received will be posted accordingly.
(picture at the link)

July 19, 2013
10:30 a.m. Sinkhole, Increased Activity

There is lots of activity on the sinkhole this morning. Dr Horton reports that this increase in activity started about 5:00 a.m. (this morning).

There is abundant surface water movement, as you can see in the video posted (from Pad 3) on our YouTube site, http://www.youtube.com/user/assumptionla

Also, currently, a burp event is occurring in the center of the sink hole.

We will keep everyone posted of any events that may occur.

 

[mixin]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

I finally got a chance to watch the videos from the last meeting on 7/16
http://www.youtube.com/user/assumptionla/videos

Here's the link to the presentation that goes with it:
http://classic.edsuite.com/proposals/proposals_280/cb_i_status_update_07162013_fi_669.pdf

I didn't hear any encouraging news except that the experts are continuing to work on the problems.

There is some disagreement between Texas Brine and the other group of experts as to what's being seen on some of the data; I'll summarize the expert opinions since that was basically what was being presented.

They have determined that the disrupted rock zone (DRZ) does exist and it appears to be shaped similar to an hourglass. The top half widens to about the size of the sinkhole.

The sinkhole continues to expand to the south and they believe that's due to the sand from the hole slowly trickling down through the DRZ. One of the questions asked was what would happen if the sinkhole expands until it hits the bayou and that is something the experts are now considering.

They have identified 2 probable and 3 possible sources of the bubbling gas in the sinkhole. Two pockets are adjacent to the DRZ, which makes them strong candidates and the other three are less likely due to their distance away from the DRZ. As for the possible amounts of gas they could contain: 2 @ 60 million cubic feet, the 3 @ 150 million cubic feet and they range from 8-10 acres/ 5-10 feet in depth. They don't know how much gas the actually contain since TB has been venting for quite some time. Based on this info, they estimated it could take up to 5 years at the current vent rate to deplete the gas deposits.

They have no idea what is causing the extreme fluctuations in the depth of the cavern. The brine pressure is up to about 600 PSI inside the cavern. They have conferred with world experts and this is a never-seen-before situation. One resident asked if they could see a hole in the side of it and they said they could not see anything definite. The question of fresh water came up and they are looking at the possibility of fresh water entering the cavern. Although they think that the pressure that far below the surface should be high enough to push any fresh water up through the DRZ.

If I could write titles for the different videos, my choice for Part 8 would be:
Texas Brine Rep Demonstrates How to Throw Fuel on a Hot Fire.

 

[mixin]

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

Re: Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2013

Here are several of the images from the presentation that I thought were very helpful. The long lines on the seismic events graph are believed to be caused by sand and gravel falling down into the DRZ.