Save Lake Peigneur, Inc. / Nara Crowley / May 22, 2013 SALT DOMES: Prohibits the issuance of certain permits to create or convert a solution mined cavern for storage purposes.
SB200 had been amended. SB200 was to provide for the prohibition of certain permits on state owned water bottoms; to provide terms, conditions, and requirements; and to provide for related matters. The amended SB200 would have been just for 5 years until more research is done on the safety of natural gas salt dome storage caverns. SB200 would also have protected the 5 parishes that use the Chicot aquifer, our only fresh water source.
AGL Resources, Jefferson Island Storage & Hub, LLC, will not do an Environmental Impact Statement nor will they give the Seismic Study that was done to Save Lake Peigneur. Jefferson Island Storage & Hub, LLC employs 10 people and will hire one more after the expansion.
Senator Adley came before the senate microphone and stood before Senator Mills, and told Sen. Mills that he was playing games. Adley again and again brought up the disaster at Lake Peigneur in 1980, as if that disaster was nothing. Senator Adley told Senator Mills that he appreciated his problems. I wonder if Senator Adley appreciates what has happened to the people that live in Assumption parish.
Sen. Adley voted against SB200 on May 7 and 21. He ran a company that managed natural gas. In and Advocate article Sen. Adley stated that “I reached out to lobbyist friends I’ve known for years and said people need to be reasonable”. Senator Adley must have reached out to a lot of his lobbyist friends, as there were 20 lobbyists there for AGL Resources. Someone said the senate floor looked like an oil and gas convention.
Do lobbyists run our state? Why didn’t the DNR protect the people in Assumption parish? Why don’t most of the senators protect or care about the people that live around natural gas storage caverns?
To the Senators who voted and did the right thing thank you so much for caring about people’s lives. Save Lake Peigneur does not have lobbyists or money. The people that live in that area are hardworking people and so many work in the oil and gas industry but they are trying to protect their lives.
Senator Guillory, St. Martinville, was on the Senate Floor 5/21/2013 but did not vote on either days.With a few hours notice we gathered 10 residents and Kathy Wascom, our lobbyist from LEAN to support our bill.
AGL had an estimated 20 lobbyists of extremely well-paid lobbyists.
Although we lost by a mere 2 votes, ordinary citizens battled against the extremely experienced lobbyists. In that sense we did not lose.
As always, Senator Mills was outstanding, in fact I was pleased to hear one of the lobbyists complain that his persistence and commitment was annoying.
We continue to applaud his integrity. We are also very grateful to the support we received from the 17 senators who supported SB200, including Senator Perry and Senator Cortez. Senator Guillory from St. Martinville remained absent although the parish government and law enforcement officials were staunch in their support of SB200.
The purpose of the bill was to stop the permitting process for at least 5 years to give time to truly study the numerous issues of concern; bubbling in the lake, contamination of the Chicot Aquifer, property devaluation and geological anomalies.
The state’s policies failed the residents of Bayou Corne. After nine months there is no resolution. SB200 would have assured clear unbiased solution. The 19 senators who voted against SB200 have gambled with the lives of 4000 Lake Peigneur residents as well as the drinking water for numerous parishes from the Chicot Aquifer.
Eight years have passed since AGL Resources began their quest to create additional caverns in Lake Peigneur. The Bayou Corne disaster and today’s loss has made us more determined to protect our homes and environment.
For his initial pitch on legislation aimed at curtailing oil and gas activity at Lake Peigneur, state Sen. Fred Mills turned the Senate chamber into a movie theater.
Mills, R-St. Martinville, showed grainy, decades-old news footage of the water draining in a violent whirlpool after a drilling accident in 1980.
The images failed to convince the state Senate to embrace Mills’ Senate Bill 200 to stop the expansion of natural gas storage underneath the lake.
Mills made another attempt Tuesday, this time relying on his own words. He asked legislators to side with the lake’s residents instead of the dozen lobbyists hired by the “oil and gas boys.”
The result was the same.
The Senate rejected SB200 with 17 members voting in favor of it and 19 voting against it. The bill needed 20 favorable votes to advance to the House.
At issue is the Atlanta-based AGL Resources’ plans to expand an underground natural gas storage operation in the salt dome beneath Lake Peigneur, which straddles Vermilion and Iberia parishes.
Residents oppose the expansion because of concerns that instability in the salt dome could result in a catastrophe similar to the 15.1-acre sinkhole that forced some Bayou Corne residents out of their homes in Assumption Parish.
The expansion would occur more than three decades after a drilling rig pushed through the top of the salt mine and punched a hole in the bottom of Lake Peigneur. The lake drained in a whirlpool that also sucked in barges.
AGL has been trying to expand its operation at Lake Peigneur for years. Then-Gov. Kathleen Blanco called for an extensive environmental study in 2006, sparking a lawsuit that resulted in an agreement for additional safeguards. The company still needs two additional permits to start the expansion. Mills’ bill initially would have prevented the expansion from taking place.
After the legislation failed in a floor vote earlier this month, AGL offered residents a compromise. The company said it would put expansion plans on hold for a year and work with the state Department of Natural Resources to determine whether foaming on the lake’s surface stems from instability in the salt dome.
Save Lake Peigneur’s board of directors rejected AGL’s offer Monday night. The group, which represents the lake’s 4,000 residents, determined the offer was not in members’ best interest. Nara Crowley, president of Save Lake Peigneur, said residents want a federal environmental impact statement, a scientific ultrasound of the salt dome and a clear determination on what is causing the foaming.
“Bayou Corne’s disaster is a result of failed regulations of the state of Louisiana. We will never feel safe until all our questions are answered,” Crowley said. Duane A. Bourne, spokesman for AGL, said it is disappointing that residents rejected the company’s proposal. “The sole purpose of the SB200 legislation is to unfairly deny AGL Resources the opportunity to go through the regulatory process in a fair and equitable manner — we are just seeking the same right that other similar companies in the state have received,” Bourne said by email.
With the residents urging him to push forward with SB200, Mills amended the bill Tuesday to call for a five-year halt in natural gas storage expansion at the lake. “All we’re saying is we want a five-year break, and for a company called AGL in Atlanta I think it’s OK,” Mills said. State Sen. Rick Ward III, who represents Bayou Corne, urged his colleagues to embrace the bill. Ward, D-Maringouin, said Mills just wants to take care of his community. “I don’t make a habit of getting up and speaking on other people’s bills, but I have to rise in support of this one,” he said.
State Sen. Robert Adley, R-Benton, said he had several problems with the bill. The biggest issue, he said, is that the bill would not prevent the type of drilling that caused the 1980 accident. “If you want to fix the problem, face the problem straight up,” Adley said. Mills thanked Adley, who lives in north Louisiana, for caring about the people of Iberia and Vermilion parishes. He said the bill would help residents even if there are structural flaws in the language.
“Since Bayou Corne, they’re scared,” Mills said. With the session ending June 6, Mills is short on time to rally legislators to his cause.
An apparent lightning strike set fire to a two-story house in Bayou Corne early Wednesday that had been evacuated due to the Assumption Parish sinkhole, parish officials said. John Boudreaux, director of the parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said the strike was visible from the sinkhole command post, which is across from the home on La. 70 South.
Sheriff Mike Waguespack said the house at 1402 Jambalaya St., Belle Rose, was struck by a “very large lightning bolt” about 8:28 a.m. Area fire departments responded and put out the blaze, he said. Waguespack said no one was in the house at the time of the fire. Lindsey Blanchard, who owns the house with his wife, said the fire started on the roof, and he estimated about one-third of the roof was lost in the fire.
Because of the amount of water firefighters had to put on the house to extinguish the blaze, Blanchard expects there will be considerable water damage, including to the first floor, he said. However, Blanchard said he and his wife had already removed many of their possessions from the home since evacuating last year. The couple have been living on a houseboat, and they are building a new house in Pierre Part, he said.
Residents in the Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou areas have been under evacuation orders since about 12 hours after the sinkhole was found early in the morning of Aug. 3. A Texas Brine Co. salt dome cavern failed and is suspected of triggering the sinkhole as well as unleashing oil and gas from deep underground.
Waguespack posted a picture of the home, which appeared to have damage to its roof and upper story, on Facebook with this comment: “To add insult to injury, an evacuated residence in Bayou Corne was hit by lightning causing a fire!” Blanchard said the damaged house is insured, but he does not know yet if he will repair the house and whether he will be required to repair it by his insurer or Texas Brine.
“I just don’t know how this is going to work out. I am not going to live in the house,” he said. “It’s going to be somebody else’s decision whether it is fixed or not.”
Millions of celebrities have joined Matt Damon’s “Toilet Strike” protesting the lack of access to safe water and adequate sanitation for billions. Just today, innovative entrepreneur Richard Branson, rockstar-philanthropist Bono, and actress Olivia Wilde have made their own support public.
WHOLE WORLD Water seeks to prove that economic, social, and environmental progress are not mutually exclusive. Developed to end the global water and sanitation crisis, WHOLE WORLD Water works to engage the hospitality and tourism industry to filter, bottle, and sell its own water, and contribute 10% of the proceeds to the WHOLE WORLD Water Fund. 100% of the proceeds will go directly to clean and safe water initiatives worldwide. We believe that everyone should have access to clean and safe water. Visit Sir Richard Branson
Any donation no matter how small assists Save the Water™ in researching and publishing water education articles such as this. Your support is appreciated as STW™ relies on your assistance to continue each day providing you this information. Click here to help support Save the Water™
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www.mmegi.bw / Tuesday, 21 May 2013 (Vol. 30, No. 73)
Well government has imposed water restrictions and unfortunately for the wrong reason. Common sense suggests imposition shall be lifted the moment water levels in dams are up. And that’s unfortunate.
Just to epitomise the subject – Are you wrong to be mad at me if after all your efforts of providing me with clean treated water – you see me throw it away on the ground only to ask for more. If you asked me, I would say it’s disrespectful and moreover criminal.
Of course the example is just a fraction of the subject matter i.e. water shortage faced by this country, Botswana. The first time we experienced a water crisis in Botswana we blamed the weather and as we waited for it to clear we turned around to draw water from the North.
This time there are chances we shall be going further to the North-West and probably across borders etc. and only then shall we know we have a big problem in our hands – water deficit. As part of the above we constructed many dams and boreholes all this in the spirit of supplementing water for Batswana. The bottom-line is that the problem is not with the weather but a simple water deficit issue i.e. the amount of water available to us from rains is less than the amount we require. In fact this matter is not new to us since several reports have, for long, pointed out that Botswana shall be facing this shortage and further showing a nose dive pattern over time.
Almost all countries in the SADC are predicted to have very serious water shortage by 2025.
Extracted from Hirji R. at el, Defining and mainstreaming environmental sustainability in water resources management in Southern Africa, SADC. To explain this further it is important to appreciate where we get water from and similarly the way we Batswana perceive and indeed relate to water. Botswana receives water through rainfall and recently the weather patterns have become very unpredictable culminating in dwindled precipitations.
To exemplify this, if the amount of water we receive is 20 units of water and 10 is lost through all sorts of ways including infiltration, flows away across borders by rivers, evaporation etc. then only 10 units remain available to us and is accessed through reservoirs or dams and wells or boreholes. On the other hand, water is consumed through domestic use, commercial i.e. construction, irrigation, and life-stock.
Water demand or level of usage increases with time and as the population explodes paralleled by growing economic performance of the country, water demand exceeds supply, as shown in the graph above and as is the case with our neighbouring countries. This means we need more water than what is available to us. The traditional approach is to get additional water from elsewhere, as we currently get from the north. The same way, as demand increases further, this additional amount is eventually exceeded. It’s fair to say water deficit did not happen overnight and rather entitlement mindset is the problem.
The situation of water shortage stands to get worse unless we do something about it now. Getting water from Lesotho, Okavango or elsewhere does not become a solution to the problem at hand but a temporary relief measure that postpones or delays the terminal point. As indicted, instead of facing the problem head-on, by tradition, we normally resort to self-deceit – “go oketsa marago ka matlapa” while the situation degenerates. Simply put, sinking more dams and boreholes beyond the amount of water available to us through rainfall does not help in any way.
Where do we go from here? – bury our heads in the sand?
Well, we can derive comfort from the fact that water shortage is not peculiar to Boswana but a worldwide phenomena. In fact water shortage is worse in countries with heavier population levels and a lot of them have since been forced to take a step and their experience is vital to us. Very characteristic of us, we shall remain hopeful that more rains will come to our rescue – a stance tantamount to burying our heads in the sand. History shows that we only learn at a point when things have come to a dead stop as was the case with electricity where we are now tail-chasing.
Today it is water just after power and immediately next is land and so on. Typically, when we experienced serious water shortage a few years back – it was a time when traffic circles were grassed green, a situation that caused collision between cattle and traffic. Water shortage forced us to appreciate that none-water based decorations were good enough and in the process cattle fighting with vehicles for supremacy became a thing of the past. Thanks for the crisis. One can only hope that, water shortage as we currently experience it, stands to awaken us forever as we move forward. For us to hope that the skies will come to our rescue is only but a recipe for a disaster sure to happen.
Do all with what we have.
If we were ever to appreciate that the rain water we receive is a given i.e. it is limited and importantly it’s one thing we have no control over whereas on the other hand population and other sources that consume water continues to increase, it would become easier for us to respond appropriately to the call and among the list would be our relationship with water, response to conservational calls etc.
Another contribution from greengardens.5vh@gmail.com, promoters of water conservation systems i.e. harvesting, recycling etc. is our passion.
Millions of celebrities have joined Matt Damon’s “Toilet Strike” protesting the lack of access to safe water and adequate sanitation for billions. Innovative entrepreneur Richard Branson, rockstar-philanthropist Bono, and actress Olivia Wilde have made their own support public.
WHOLE WORLD Water seeks to prove that economic, social, and environmental progress are not mutually exclusive. Developed to end the global water and sanitation crisis, WHOLE WORLD Water works to engage the hospitality and tourism industry to filter, bottle, and sell its own water, and contribute 10% of the proceeds to the WHOLE WORLD Water Fund. 100% of the proceeds will go directly to clean and safe water initiatives worldwide. We believe that everyone should have access to clean and safe water. Visit Sir Richard Branson
Any donation no matter how small assists Save the Water™ in researching and publishing water education articles such as this. Your support is appreciated as STW™ relies on your assistance to continue each day providing you this information. Click here to help support Save the Water™
Supporting the water research and education programs of Save the Water™
is vital to our future generation’s health, your funding is needed today.
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Water contamination news: USA
EPA Adds the Riverside Industrial Park in Newark, New Jersey to the Superfund List seven acre site along the Passaic River contaminated with PCBs and volatile organic compounds.
Elias Rodriguez, (212) 637-3664, rodriguez.elias@epa.gov
(New York, N.Y. – May 21, 2013) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has added the Riverside Industrial Park in Newark, New Jersey to the Superfund National Priorities List of the country’s most hazardous waste sites. After a 2009 spill of oily material from the industrial park into the Passaic River, the EPA discovered that chemicals, including benzene, mercury, chromium and arsenic, were improperly stored at the site. The agency took emergency actions to prevent further release of these chemicals into the river. Further investigation showed that soil, ground water and tanks at the Riverside Industrial Park are contaminated with volatile organic compounds and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
Benzene, mercury, chromium and arsenic are all highly toxic and can cause serious damage to people’s health and the environment. Many volatile organic compounds are known to cause cancer in animals and can cause cancer in people. Polychlorinated biphenyls are chemicals that persist in the environment and can affect the immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems and are potentially cancer-causing.
EPA proposed the site to the Superfund list in September 2012 and encouraged the public to comment during a 60-day public comment period. After considering public comments and receiving the support of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for listing the site, the EPA is putting it on the Superfund list.
“The EPA has kept people out of immediate danger from this contaminated industrial park and can now develop long-term plans to protect the community,” said Judith A. Enck, EPA Regional Administrator. “By adding the site to the Superfund list, the EPA can do the extensive investigation needed to determine the best ways to clean up the contamination and protect public health.”
Since the early 1900s, the Riverside Industrial Park, at 29 Riverside Avenue in Newark, has been used by many businesses, including a paint manufacturer, a packaging company and a chemical warehouse. The site covers approximately seven acres and contains a variety of industrial buildings, some of which are vacant. In 2009, at the request of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the EPA responded to an oil spill on the Passaic River that was eventually traced to the Riverside Avenue site. The state and the city of Newark requested the EPA’s help in assessing the contamination at the site and performing emergency actions to identify and stop the source of the spill.
The EPA plugged discharge pipes from several buildings and two tanks that were identified as the source of the contamination. In its initial assessment of the site, the EPA also found ten abandoned 12,000 to 15,000 gallon underground storage tanks containing hazardous waste, approximately one hundred 3,000 to 10,000 gallon aboveground storage tanks, two tanks containing oily waste, as well as dozens of 55-gallon drums and smaller containers. These containers held a variety of hazardous industrial waste and solvents. Two underground tanks and most of the other containers were removed by the EPA in 2012.
The EPA periodically proposes sites to the Superfund list and, after responding to public comments, designates them as final Superfund sites. The Superfund final designation makes them eligible for funds to conduct long-term cleanups. The Superfund program operates on the principle that polluters should pay for the cleanups, rather than passing the costs to taxpayers. After sites are placed on the Superfund list of the most contaminated waste sites, the EPA searches for parties responsible for the contamination and holds them accountable for the costs of investigations and cleanups. The search for the parties responsible for the contamination at the Riverside Industrial Park site is ongoing.
EPA proposes to add Makah Reservation Warmhouse Beach dump to federal Superfund cleanup list.
Suzanne Skadowski, EPA Public Affairs, 206-553-6689, skadowski.suzanne@epa.gov
(May 21, 2013 – Seattle) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to add the Warmhouse Beach dump, on the Makah Reservation, in Neah Bay, Washington, to the Superfund National Priorities List. The proposed cleanup listing includes a public comment period from May 23 through July 23, 2013.
“Adding the Warmhouse Beach dump to EPA’s Superfund cleanup list will help protect the Makah Tribe’s treaty resources and the environment along the Strait of Juan de Fuca,” said Rick Albright, Director of EPA’s Region 10 Office of Environmental Cleanup in Seattle. “The Makah Tribe welcomes EPA’s efforts to assist in the Tribe’s longstanding effort to clean up the Warmhouse Beach dump, our highest environmental priority,” said Timothy J. Greene, Chairman of the Makah Tribal Council. “We look forward to working collaboratively with EPA to finally addressing the serious environmental and health risks that the dump poses to our treaty resources and culturally significant areas.”
The Warmhouse Beach dump was a 7-acre municipal and hazardous waste dump used in the 1970s-1980s by the Makah Air Force Station and by tribal and non-tribal members until the dump was closed in 2012. Contaminants found at the Warmhouse Beach dump and in nearby creeks include polyaromatic hydrocarbons or PAHs, polybrominated diphenyl ethers or PBDEs, perchlorate, metals, pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs, and dioxins. Mussels at the beaches also contain elevated concentrations of lead. The Makah Tribe referred the Warmhouse Beach dump to EPA for Superfund cleanup based on concerns about harmful substances leaching from the dump to surface waters and the tribe’s traditionally significant shellfishing beaches.
Warmhouse Beach is an important natural and cultural resource for the Makah and they have used it as a traditional summer fishing camp and for subsistence harvest of sea urchins, mussels, and steamer clams. Warmhouse Beach is also used for camping, surfing, and other recreational activities. EPA’s Superfund program investigates and cleans up complex and uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites to protect people’s health and the environment, with the ultimate goal of returning them to communities for productive use. Information on the Warmhouse Beach dump: http://yosemite.epa.gov/R10/cleanup.nsf/sites/warmhouse
EPA Adds the Matlack, Inc. Site in Woolwich Township, New Jersey to the Superfund List.
(New York, N.Y. – May 21, 2013) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has added the Matlack, Inc. site in Woolwich Township, New Jersey to the Superfund National Priorities List of the country’s most hazardous waste sites. The site is a former truck terminal at which operations included truck maintenance and truck, trailer and tanker washing. As a result of past industrial activities, the soil and ground water are contaminated with volatile organic compounds and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Many volatile organic compounds are known to cause cancer in animals and can cause cancer in people. PCBs are chemicals that persist in the environment and can affect the immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems and are potentially cancer-causing. Contamination from this site is impacting the Grand Sprute Run stream and nearby wetlands that have been identified among New Jersey’s most significant natural areas.
EPA proposed to add the site to the Superfund list in September 2012 and encouraged the public to comment during a 60-day public comment period. After considering public comments and receiving the support of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to list the site, the EPA is putting it on the Superfund list.
“Placing the Matlack site on the Superfund list is an important step in protecting people’s health and allowing EPA to take action to clean up the site,” said Judith A. Enck, EPA Regional Administrator. “By adding the site to the Superfund list, the EPA can do the extensive investigation needed to determine the best ways to address the contamination and protect public health.”
Located on Route 322 in Woolwich, New Jersey the site operated as a truck terminal from 1962 to 2001. Previous activities at the 70-acre facility included the cleanup of trucks and tankers used for transporting a variety of materials including flammable and corrosive liquids. The polluted cleaning solution was disposed of in an unlined lagoon behind the terminal building from 1962 until 1976 when Matlack Inc. began transporting the wastewater away from the site for disposal.
The lagoon was subsequently filled with a variety of demolition debris and other material. Matlack discontinued the tanker cleaning operations in November 1997, but continued to service and store vehicles at the site until 2001 when it submitted a petition for bankruptcy. Sampling has shown that the soil in several areas of the site is contaminated with volatile organic compounds and PCBs. Sediment and water in Grand Sprute Run stream are contaminated with volatile organic compounds and sampling shows that the ground water beneath the site is contaminated with the industrial cleaning chemical trichloroethylene.
The EPA periodically proposes sites to the Superfund list and, after responding to public comments, designates them as final Superfund sites. The Superfund final designation makes them eligible for funds to conduct long-term cleanups. The Superfund program operates on the principle that polluters should pay for the cleanups, rather than passing the costs to taxpayers. After sites are placed on the Superfund list of the most contaminated waste sites, the EPA searches for parties responsible for the contamination and holds them accountable for the costs of investigations and cleanups. The search for the parties responsible for the contamination at the Matlack, Inc. site is ongoing. For more information about Superfund, please visit: http://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund.
EPA orders continued treatment of contaminated groundwater at former manufacturing Facility in Richmond, Va.
PHILADELPHIA (May 21, 2013) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reached an administrative settlement with Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc. and LSI Corp. regarding a former circuit board manufacturing facility located in Henrico County, at 4500 S. Laburnum Ave., Richmond, Va., requiring the companies to address groundwater contaminated with volatile organic compounds.
Under an administrative order on consent, LSI Corp. which currently operates and maintains a groundwater treatment system at the facility, is required to continue to do so and implement land and groundwater use restrictions at the facility. Should LSI fail to adequately perform the work under the order, Alcatel-Lucent, the former owner of the facility, has agreed to complete the work.
Consisting of 120 acres about five miles east of Richmond, Va., the facility manufactured printed circuit boards and during its manufacturing operations, used and stored chlorinated solvents there. In 1986, during the repair of a fire main, the facility discovered releases of chlorinated solvents. The soil surrounding the fire main was excavated, pipes were replaced and a sump in the former solvent recovery area of the plant was repaired. In 1989, the large-scale storage and use of methylene chloride and 1,1,1 trichloroethane was discontinued at the facility when it was discovered that those contaminants were in the shallow groundwater table.
In 1996 a groundwater remediation system was constructed which LSI will continue to operate and maintain under the oversight of EPA and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ). Given that some residual contamination remains on-site, in order to protect human health and the environment, the EPA order requires a variety of land and groundwater use restrictions on the property situated over the contaminated groundwater plume unless it is demonstrated that such restrictions are not necessary to protect human health or the environment. The restrictions include: a prohibition on building any new structure, no residential use, no earth moving activities including soil excavation and drilling, and no new wells.
WHOLE WORLD Water seeks to prove that economic, social, and environmental progress are not mutually exclusive. Developed to end the global water and sanitation crisis, WHOLE WORLD Water works to engage the hospitality and tourism industry to filter, bottle, and sell its own water, and contribute 10% of the proceeds to the WHOLE WORLD Water Fund. 100% of the proceeds will go directly to clean and safe water initiatives worldwide. We believe that everyone should have access to clean and safe water. Visit Sir Richard Branson
Any donation no matter how small assists Save the Water™ in researching and publishing water education articles such as this. Your support is appreciated as STW™ relies on your assistance to continue each day providing you this information. Click here to help support Save the Water™
Supporting the water research and education programs of Save the Water™
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Gov. Jindal orders review of all Texas Brine permits as company continues to fail to offer buyouts.
Right click and click view image to enlarge
Following article: courtesy of bayoutimelive / May 20, 2013
Today, Governor Bobby Jindal issued an Executive Order instructing the Commissioner of Conservation to conduct a complete review of the permits issued to Texas Brine in connection with its operations of salt cavern wells in Assumption Parish, as well as all permits issued to Texas Brine throughout the State.
The review will be conducted in order to determine if Texas Brine’s current financial condition indicate that such permit(s) should be modified, revoked and reissued, or terminated. Governor Jindal said, “It has become clear that Texas Brine is trying to run out the clock on the citizens of Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou by hiding behind insurance companies, lawyers and lobbyists. That is unacceptable. Texas Brine is responsible for the sinkhole, and they need to clean up the mess they’ve made and do right by the people of Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou by issuing long overdue settlement offers.
“We’ve heard every excuse in the book, and enough is enough. Texas Brine needs to offer settlements to the residents who want them, and their failure to do so brings into serious question the company’s ability to operate in Louisiana moving forward.”
Additionally, Governor Jindal has instructed all departments, commissions, boards, offices, entities, agencies, and officers of the State of Louisiana—and any local agencies involved in the sinkhole response—to review and determine whether Texas Brine remains capable of meeting its regulatory obligations.
On March 14, 2013, Texas Brine officials met with State and local officials and pledged to extend settlement offers, including buyouts, to residents forced to evacuate their homes as a result of the threat posed by the sinkhole.
To date, no buyouts have been offered. As of May 16th, Texas Brine has indicated that 110 residents have requested settlement forms; 102 residents have submitted claim information sheets; 97 properties have been inspected; and five properties remain to be inspected.
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Texas Brine had committed to issuing settlement offers within 45 days of property inspections. Today, 66 inspected properties have reached the 45-day window. 85 properties will be on the 45th day since inspection on Friday, May 24th, and 87 properties will be on the 45th day since inspection on May 31st.
EXECUTIVE ORDER
WHEREAS, pursuant to the Louisiana Homeland Security and Emergency Assistance and Disaster Act, R.S. 29:721, et seq., a state of emergency was declared through Proclamation No. 82 BJ 2012 (Threat of Subsidence and Subsurface Instability) due to the rapid development of a sinkhole, several acres in size, which threatened and continues to threaten nearby residents in the vicinity of Bayou Corne, in Assumption Parish; and
WHEREAS, the Louisiana Homeland Security and Emergency Assistance and Disaster Act, R.S. 29:721, et seq., confers upon the Governor of the State of Louisiana emergency powers to deal with emergencies and disasters, including those caused by fire, flood, earthquake or other natural or man-made causes, to ensure that preparations of this state will be adequate to deal with such emergencies or disasters, and to preserve the lives and property of the citizens of the State of Louisiana; and
WHEREAS, the Louisiana Homeland Security and Emergency Assistance and Disaster Act, R.S. 29:721, et seq., also confers upon the Governor of the State of Louisiana the authority to issue executive orders, proclamations, and issue, amend, or rescind regulations in order to meet the dangers to the state and people presented by emergencies or disasters; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Natural Resources, Office of Conservation, maintains statutory jurisdiction and authority to regulate the exploration and conservation of oil, gas, and other minerals pursuant to R.S. 30:1 et seq. and administrative rules promulgated pursuant thereto, through means including the issuance, review, and revocation of permitted activities; and
WHEREAS, when a permitted activity poses a threat or creates harm to the environmental quality of the State, the Department of Natural Resources, Office of Conservation is aided by additional state and federal agencies charged with the protection, response, and recovery of the State’s environmental quality; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to the mineral conservation laws of Louisiana, R.S. 30:1 et seq., a declaration of emergency was issued on August 3, 2012 by the Department of Natural Resources, Office of Conservation, ordering Texas Brine Company, LLC (“Texas Brine”) to undertake all necessary and appropriate actions to protect against damage to the environment and prevent threats to public safety associated with its operation of a salt dome facility in the vicinity of Section 40, Township 12 South, Range 13 East, in Assumption Parish; and
WHEREAS, over the following months, it became necessary for the Department of Natural Resources, Office of Conservation, to issue a multitude of additional emergency declarations, directives, compliance orders, and penalties to compel Texas Brine to effectuate the express purpose of the August 3, 2013 emergency declaration – protect against damage to the environment and prevent threats to public safety; and
WHEREAS,on March 14, 2013, Texas Brine officials met with State and local officials and pledged to extend settlement offers over the following several weeks, including buyouts, to residents forced to evacuate their homes as a result of the threat posed by the sinkhole at Bayou Corne, and further agreed to reimburse local and state officials for the response costs associated with this incident; and
WHEREAS, as of this date, Texas Brine has missed multiple deadlines to extend these settlement offers and no such buyouts have occurred, calling into question the willingness of Texas Brine to fulfill its pledge to the residents of Bayou Corne and others impacted by its operations, the company’s financial ability to meet the obligations created by its salt dome operations in Assumption Parish, and the adequacy of its insurance coverage for its operations in Assumption Parish and elsewhere at any of its other permitted sites in the State of Louisiana; and
NOW THEREFORE, I, Bobby Jindal, Governor of the State of Louisiana, by virtue of the authority vested by the Constitution and the laws of the State of Louisiana, do hereby order and direct as follows:
The Commissioner of Conservation shall conduct a complete review of the permits issued to Texas Brine in connection with its operations of salt cavern wells in the vicinity of Section 40, Township 12 South, Range 13 East, in Assumption Parish, as well as all permits issued to Texas Brine throughout the State, in order to determine if Texas Brine’s current financial condition indicates that such permit(s) should be modified, revoked and reissued, or terminated.
SECTION 2:
All departments, commissions, boards, offices, entities, agencies, and officers of the State of Louisiana, or any political subdivision thereof with any regulatory program implicated by the emergency situation near Bayou Corne in Assumption Parish, shall review to determine whether Texas Brine remains capable of meeting its regulatory obligations. At a minimum, this review shall include the following potential regulatory requirements in light of current conditions at the sinkhole:
The Louisiana Hazardous Waste Management Program;
NPDES Program under the Clean Water Act
Underground Injection Control (UIC) Program;
Exploration and Production Waste Management Program;
Dredge or fill permits under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act; and
Other relevant environmental permitting and regulatory requirements, including, but not limited to any state permits issued under the Louisiana Coastal Resources Program or the Louisiana Natural and Scenic Streams System;
SECTION 3:
In light of Texas Brine’s inability to meet its previous commitments, the Commissioner of Conservation shall conduct a review of the ongoing financial ability of Texas Brine to meet the financial obligations resulting from its salt dome operations in Assumption Parish and elsewhere at any of its other permitted sites in the State of Louisiana, as well as the adequacy of its insurance coverage for the company’s operations in Assumption Parish and elsewhere at any of its other permitted sites in the State of Louisiana.
SECTION 4:
All departments, commissions, boards, offices, entities, agencies, and officers of the State of Louisiana, or any political subdivision thereof, are authorized and directed to cooperate in the implementation of the provisions of this Order.
SECTION 5:
This Order is effective upon signature and shall remain in effect until amended, modified, terminated or rescinded by the Governor, or terminated by operation of law. By: Office of Governor Bobby Jindal We wish to thank News 10 HTV10.tv
For this educational report
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Hydraulic fracturing is the propagation of fractures in a rock layer by a pressurized fluid. Some hydraulic fractures form naturally certain veins or dikes are examples—and can create conduits along which gas and petroleum from source rocks may migrate to reservoir rocks. Induced hydraulic fracturing or hydrofracturing, commonly known as fracing, fraccing, or fracking, is a technique used to release petroleum, natural gas (including shale gas, tight gas, and coal seam gas), or other substances for extraction. This type of fracturing creates fractures from a wellbore drilled into reservoir rock formations.
The first use of hydraulic fracturing was in 1947. However, it was only in 1998 that modern fracturing technology, referred to as horizontal slickwater fracturing, made possible the economical extraction of shale gas; this new technology was first used in the Barnett Shale in Texas. The energy from the injection of a highly pressurized hydraulic fracturing fluid creates new channels in the rock, which can increase the extraction rates and ultimate recovery of hydrocarbons.
Proponents of hydraulic fracturing point to the economic benefits from vast amounts of formerly inaccessible hydrocarbons the process can extract. Opponents point to potential environmental impacts, including contamination of ground water, risks to air quality, the migration of gases and hydraulic fracturing chemicals to the surface, surface contamination from spills and flowback and the health effects of these. For these reasons hydraulic fracturing has come under scrutiny internationally, with some countries suspending or banning it.
Fracturing as a method to stimulate shallow, hard rock oil wells dates back to the 1860s. It was applied by oil producers in the US states of Pennsylvania, New York, Kentucky, and West Virginia by using liquid and later also solidified nitroglycerin. Later, the same method was applied to water and gas wells. The idea to use acid as a nonexplosive fluid for well stimulation was introduced in the 1930s. Due to acid etching, fractures would not close completely and therefore productivity was enhanced. The same phenomenon was discovered with water injection and squeeze cementing operations.
The relationship between well performance and treatment pressures was studied by Floyd Farris of Stanolind Oil and Gas Corporation. This study became a basis of the first hydraulic fracturing experiment, which was conducted in 1947 at the Hugoton gas field in Grant County of southwestern Kansas by Stanolind. For the well treatment 1,000 US gallons (3,800 l; 830 imp gal) of gelled gasoline and sand from the Arkansas River was injected into the gas-producing limestone formation at 2,400 feet (730 m).
The experiment was not very successful as deliverability of the well did not change appreciably. The process was further described by J.B. Clark of Stanolind in his paper published in 1948. A patent on this process was issued in 1949 and an exclusive license was granted to the Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Company. On March 17, 1949, Halliburton performed the first two commercial hydraulic fracturing treatments in Stephens County, Oklahoma, and Archer County, Texas.[15] Since then, hydraulic fracturing has been used to stimulate approximately a million oil and gas wells.
In the Soviet Union, the first hydraulic proppant fracturing was carried out in 1952. In Western Europe in 1977–1985, hydraulic fracturing was conducted at Rotliegend and Carboniferous gas-bearing sandstones in Germany, Netherlands onshore and offshore gas fields, and the United Kingdoms sector of the North Sea. Other countries in Europe and Northern Africa included Norway, the Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Austria, France, Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Tunisia, and Algeria.
Due to shale’s high porosity and low permeability, technology research, development and demonstration were necessary before hydraulic fracturing could be commercially applied to shale gas deposits. In the 1970s the United States government initiated the Eastern Gas Shales Project, a set of dozens of public-private hydraulic fracturing pilot demonstration projects. During the same period, the Gas Research Institute, a gas industry research consortium, received approval for research and funding from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
In 1977, the Department of Energy pioneered massive hydraulic fracturing in tight sandstone formations. In 1997, based on earlier techniques used by Union Pacific Resources, now part of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, Mitchell Energy, now part of Devon Energy, developed the hydraulic fracturing technique known as “slickwater fracturing” which involves adding chemicals to water to increase the fluid flow, that made the shale gas extraction economical.
Method A hydraulic fracture is formed by pumping the fracturing fluid into the wellbore at a rate sufficient to increase pressure downhole to exceed that of the fracture gradient (pressure gradient) of the rock. The fracture gradient is defined as the pressure increase per unit of the depth due to its density and it is usually measured in pounds per square inch per foot or bars per meter. The rock cracks and the fracture fluid continues further into the rock, extending the crack still further, and so on.
Operators typically try to maintain “fracture width”, or slow its decline, following treatment by introducing into the injected fluid a proppant – a material such as grains of sand, ceramic, or other particulates, that prevent the fractures from closing when the injection is stopped and the pressure of the fluid is reduced. Consideration of proppant strengths and prevention of proppant failure becomes more important at greater depths where pressure and stresses on fractures are higher. The propped fracture is permeable enough to allow the flow of formation fluids to the well. Formation fluids include gas, oil, salt water, fresh water and fluids introduced to the formation during completion of the well during fracturing.
During the process fracturing fluid leakoff, loss of fracturing fluid from the fracture channel into the surrounding permeable rock occurs. If not controlled properly, it can exceed 70% of the injected volume. This may result in formation matrix damage, adverse formation fluid interactions, or altered fracture geometry and thereby decreased production efficiency.
The location of one or more fractures along the length of the borehole is strictly controlled by various methods that create or seal off holes in the side of the wellbore. Typically, hydraulic fracturing is performed in cased wellbores and the zones to be fractured are accessed by perforating the casing at those locations.
Hydraulic-fracturing equipment used in oil and natural gas fields usually consists of a slurry blender, one or more high-pressure, high-volume fracturing pumps (typically powerful triplex or quintuplex pumps) and a monitoring unit. Associated equipment includes fracturing tanks, one or more units for storage and handling of proppant, high-pressure treating iron, a chemical additive unit (used to accurately monitor chemical addition), low-pressure flexible hoses, and many gauges and meters for flow rate, fluid density, and treating pressure. Fracturing equipment operates over a range of pressures and injection rates, and can reach up to 100 megapascals (15,000 psi) and 265 litres per second (9.4 cu ft/s) (100 barrels per minute).
Fracturing fluids.
Proppants and fracking fluids and List of additives for hydraulic fracturing
High-pressure fracture fluid is injected into the wellbore, with the pressure above the fracture gradient of the rock. The two main purposes of fracturing fluid is to extend fractures and to carry proppant into the formation, the purpose of which is to stay there without damaging the formation or production of the well. Two methods of transporting the proppant in the fluid are used – high-rate and high-viscosity. High-viscosity fracturing tends to cause large dominant fractures, while high-rate (slickwater) fracturing causes small spread-out micro-fractures.
This fracture fluid contains water-soluble gelling agents (such as guar gum) which increase viscosity and efficiently deliver the proppant into the formation.
The fluid injected into the rock is typically a slurry of water, proppants, and chemical additives. Additionally, gels, foams, and compressed gases, including nitrogen, carbon dioxide and air can be injected. Typically, of the fracturing fluid 90% is water and 9.5% is sand with the chemical additives accounting to about 0.5%.
A proppant is a material that will keep an induced hydraulic fracture open, during or following a fracturing treatment, and can be gel, foam, or slickwater-based. Fluids make tradeoffs in such material properties as viscosity, where more viscous fluids can carry more concentrated proppant; the energy or pressure demands to maintain a certain flux pump rate (flow velocity) that will conduct the proppant appropriately; pH, various rheological factors, among others. Types of proppant include silica sand, resin-coated sand, and man-made ceramics.
These vary depending on the type of permeability or grain strength needed. The most commonly used proppant is silica sand, though proppants of uniform size and shape, such as a ceramic proppant, is believed to be more effective. Due to a higher porosity within the fracture, a greater amount of oil and natural gas is liberated.
The fracturing fluid varies in composition depending on the type of fracturing used, the conditions of the specific well being fractured, and the water characteristics. A typical fracture treatment uses between 3 and 12 additive chemicals. Although there may be unconventional fracturing fluids, the typical used chemical additives are:
•Acids—hydrochloric acid (usually 28%-5%), or acetic acid is used in the pre-fracturing stage for cleaning the perforations and initiating fissure in the near-wellbore rock.
•Sodium chloride (salt)—delays breakdown of the gel polymer chains.
•Polyacrylamide and other friction reducers—minimizes the friction between fluid and pipe, thus allowing the pumps to pump at a higher rate without having greater pressure on the surface. Polyacrylamide are good suspension agents ensuring the proppant does not fall out.
• Ethylene glycol—prevents formation of scale deposits in the pipe.
•Borate salts—used for maintaining fluid viscosity during the temperature increase.
•Sodium and potassium carbonates—used for maintaining effectiveness of crosslinkers.
•Glutaraldehyde—used as disinfectant of the water (bacteria elimination).
•Guar gum and other water-soluble gelling agents—increases viscosity of the fracturing fluid to deliver more efficiently the proppant into the formation.
•Citric acid—used for corrosion prevention.
•Isopropanol—increases the viscosity of the fracture fluid.
The most common chemical used for hydraulic fracturing in the United States in 2005–2009 was methanol, while some other most widely used chemicals were isopropyl alcohol, 2-butoxyethanol, and ethylene glycol.
Typical fluid types.
• Conventional linear gels. These gels are cellulose derivatives (carboxymethyl cellulose, hydroxyethyl cellulose, carboxymethyl hydroxyethyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl cellulose, methyl hydroxyl ethyl cellulose), guar or its derivatives (hydroxypropyl guar, carboxymethyl hydroxypropyl guar) based, with other chemicals providing the necessary chemistry for the desired results.
•Borate-crosslinked fluids. These are guar-based fluids cross-linked with boron ions (from aqueous borax/boric acid solution). These gels have higher viscosity at pH 9 onwards and are used to carry proppants. After the fracturing job the pH is reduced to 3–4 so that the cross-links are broken and the gel is less viscous and can be pumped out.
•Organometallic-crosslinked fluids zirconium, chromium, antimony, titanium salts are known to crosslink the guar based gels. The crosslinking mechanism is not reversible. So once the proppant is pumped down along with the cross-linked gel, the fracturing part is done. The gels are broken down with appropriate breakers.
•Aluminium phosphate-ester oil gels. Aluminium phosphate and ester oils are slurried to form cross-linked gel. These are one of the first known gelling systems.
For slickwater it is common to include sweeps or a reduction in the proppant concentration temporarily to ensure the well is not overwhelmed with proppant causing a screen-off. As the fracturing process proceeds, viscosity reducing agents such as oxidizers and enzyme breakers are sometimes then added to the fracturing fluid to deactivate the gelling agents and encourage flowback. The oxidizer reacts with the gel to break it down, reducing the fluid’s viscosity and ensuring that no proppant is pulled from the formation.
An enzyme acts as a catalyst for the breaking down of the gel. Sometimes pH modifiers are used to break down the crosslink at the end of a hydraulic fracturing job, since many require a pH buffer system to stay viscous. At the end of the job the well is commonly flushed with water (sometimes blended with a friction reducing chemical) under pressure.
Injected fluid is to some degree recovered and is managed by several methods, such as underground injection control, treatment and discharge, recycling, or temporary storage in pits or containers while new technology is being continually being developed and improved to better handle waste water and improve re-usability.
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Castle Rock’s Plum Creek water treatment facility will be the first in town to switch to chloramine for treatment of the town’s drinking water. Eventually, all of the town’s drinking water will be treated by chloramine instead of chlorine.
The Castle Rock Plum Creek water treatment plant will be the first to treat the town’s drinking water with chloramine, after years of treating water with chlorine.
The plant is making the switch because Plum Creek will be the first water treatment facility in Castle Rock to treat surface water, part of the town’s effort to transition its water source to renewable water, said Mark Marlowe, utilities director.
“Surface water has higher levels of natural organics than well water,” Marlowe said. “Chlorine can react with the organics; chloramine does not react as much.”
Chloramine is formed when ammonia is added to chlorine to treat drinking water, according to the EPA. When it makes the switch, Castle Rock will join Denver, Aurora, Centennial and Englewood, which are among the municipalities that use chloramine to treat drinking water.
At present, Castle Rock consumers get most their water from non-renewable sources through the town’s underground wells. The town aims to transition to consuming 75 percent of its water from renewable sources by 2065, when Castle Rock is expected to reach its population build-out.
The Plum Creek water treatment facility is the first of the town’s facilities to cull from a surface source and is expected to get the town nearly halfway to its goal, treating 35 percent of the town’s water from renewable sources, according to the Town of Castle Rock.
While chloramines are expected to enhance the water’s taste and smell, chloramine-treated water cannot be used for kidney dialysis treatment, for fish, reptile and amphibian tanks or for industries that rely on highly processed water.
The town notified its water customers about the switch in the May water bill and in the first week of May distributed a letter among businesses that might be impacted by the switch, such as pet stores and medical offices.
“We’re following a treatment that works, is effective and helps us make the transition to renewable water,” Marlowe said. “It’s very safe.” During the transition, the town will have to flush the water system, which could result in water flushing in the streets and through select fire hydrants. Where possible, the town will flush water into town parks and open space, Marlowe said. Flushing of the water system is expected to take place in mid-May. For more information about chloramine treatment, visit www.crgov.com/chloramines. For more information about the Plum Creek water treatment facility and the town’s long-term water plan, visit www.crgov.com/legacywater.
More about chloramines from the EPA
• What are chloramines?
Chloramines are disinfectants used to treat drinking water. Chloramines are most commonly formed when ammonia is added to chlorine to treat drinking water.
• How long has monochloramine been used as a drinking water disinfectant?
Monochloramine has been used as a drinking water disinfectant for more than 90 years.
• How many people/water utilities use monochloramine?
More than one in five Americans use drinking water treated with monochloramine.
Source: Environmental Protection Agency, Basic Information About Chloramines, 2009.
More than one in five Americans are drinking tap water that’s been treated with a derivative of chlorine known as chloramine. It is formed by mixing chlorine with ammonia. Chloramine is sometimes used alongside chlorine as a “secondary” disinfectant designed to remain in your water longer as it travels through the water system.
Water treated with monochloramine (the most common form of chloramine used to disinfect drinking water) may contain higher concentrations of unregulated disinfection byproducts (DBPs) – the risks of which are conclusively unknown as of 12/15/2012.
When chlorine is replaced with chloramines in drinking water, it raises the amount of lead that leaches into water from lead pipes.
No scientific studies on chloramine’s effects on your skin or respiratory tract via inhalation (such as exposure during a shower or bath) have been concluded. Chloramine is toxic to amphibians, reptiles, fish and other aquatic and marine life.
Chloramine is a less effective disinfectant than chlorine, but it is longer lasting and stays in the water system as it moves through the pipes that transport it to your home (a process that can take three or four days).
For this reason, chloramine is often used alongside chlorine as a “secondary” disinfectant designed to remain in your water longer – but is it safe?
Chloramines may raise your water’s level of toxic unregulated disinfection byproducts.
If you receive municipal water that is treated with chlorine or chloramines, toxic disinfection byproducts (DBPs) form when these disinfectants react with natural organic matter like decaying vegetation in the source water.
DBPs are over 10,000 times more toxic than chlorine, and out of all the other toxins and contaminants present in your water, such as fluoride and miscellaneous pharmaceutical drugs, DBPs are likely the absolute worst of the bunch.
Already, it’s known that trihalomethanes (THMs), one of the most common DBPs, are Cancer Group B carcinogens, meaning they’ve been shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals. They’ve also been linked to reproductive problems in both animals and humans, such as spontaneous abortion, stillbirths, and congenital malformations, even at lower levels. These types of DBPs can also:
Weaken your immune system
Disrupt your central nervous system
Damage your cardiovascular system
Disrupt your renal system and cause respiratory problems
One of the benefits often touted about chloramines is that they produce lower levels of regulated DBPs, such as THMs, compared to chlorine. They still produce them, just at lower levels. In 1998, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published its Stage 1 Disinfection Byproducts Rule, which required water treatment systems to reduce the formation of DBPs. This has led to an increasing number of treatment plants switching from chlorine to chloramine1 …
Many believe this makes chloramine the superior choice in terms of safety, but what is less publicized is that compared to chlorine, water treated with monochloramine (the most common form of chloramine used to disinfect drinking water) may contain higher concentrations of unregulated disinfection byproducts – the risks of which are unknown. Considering that many water utilities treat their water with both chlorine and chloramine, you may be getting the most of both regulated and unregulated DBPs in your drinking water, shower and bath (the DBPs that enter your body through your skin during showering or bathing also go directly into your bloodstream). There are, in fact, as many as 600 different toxic DBPs that have been identified, and to which you may be exposed through treated water.
There are other issues with chloramine in your water that you should be aware of, like its potential to extract lead from old water pipes. For example, when you combine chloramines with the fluoride (hydrofluorosilicic acid) added to most of the U.S. water supply, they become very effective at extracting lead from old plumbing systems—essentially, together, they promote the accumulation of lead in the water supply!
“In fact the two of them have been combined, and I believe patented to be put together so that they could extract lead,” said fluoride activist Jeff Green. Lead, a known toxin to your brain and nervous system, is so toxic that it has been banned in gasoline and children’s toys, and lead paint hasn’t been in use since 1978. But even the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledges that when chlorine is replaced with chloramines in drinking water, it raises not only the amount of lead that leaches into water, but the blood lead levels of children who consume it!
“When the free chlorine was replaced with chloramines, the transformed highly insoluble lead scale minerals were no longer stable and dissolved. Therefore, a substantial level of lead was released from the lead service lines into drinking water at the tap. CDC reviewed the relationship between BLLs [blood lead levels] in children, the presence of a lead service line, and water disinfection practices in DC during 1998–2006. The study reported that the presence of a lead service line was associated with higher BLLs in children. This relationship was most pronounced during 2001 through June 2004, when chloramines were used to disinfect the drinking water without adequate corrosion control.
An observational study in which the BLLs of children were matched to population-based data of water lead levels during periods when water disinfection practices changed in DC concluded that the increase in water lead levels was associated with an increase in the BLLs of children.” An analysis in Environmental Health Perspectives also found that introducing chloramines may increase the lead in drinking water, and pointed out that although anti-corrosive agents added during the treatment process are supposed to mitigate this risk, they aren’t always effective:
“Several recent studies provided evidence that the introduction of chloramines to water systems with lead-containing pipes, fixtures, or solder may increase the amount of dissolved lead in water because of changes in water chemistry; interactions with additives such as coagulants or fluoridation agents may remove lead dioxide scales originally formed during decades of chlorine-based disinfection. This leaching might be managed to some extent by the addition of anticorrosivity agents during the water treatment process; however, the details of all the related environmental chemistry are not fully understood and are highly dependent on the particular chemical interactions found in each water treatment and distribution system.”
Many residents voice concerns over chloramines, safety studies seriously lacking.
Residents across the United States from California and Oklahoma to Vermont have voiced concerns over chloramine safety, wondering whether it’s truly as safe as water utilities would like you to believe. At the very least, the chemical has been linked to skin irritations and rashes, noted Robert Howd of the California EPA:
“ …chloramines, like chlorine, can irritate sensitive mucus membranes, and could potentially cause skin irritation. When some utilities have switched to chloramine, there have been user reports of bad-tasting water, a bad feel of the water on the skin, skin irritation, and other symptoms.”
Furthermore, according to the EPA, no scientific studies on chloramine’s effects on your skin or respiratory tract via inhalation have been conducted. And while some cancer studies have been, they are so limited that they are not able to conclusively determine if chloramine might, in fact, cause cancer.
This is concerning, since exposure to chloramine in your indoor air while bathing and showering may represent your greatest route of exposure, even more so than drinking it. Also the cancer studies on chloramine itself are so limited that they cannot be used to determine if chloramine is a carcinogen, and its environmental effects are worrisome. Chloramine is toxic to frogs and other amphibians, reptiles, fish and other aquatic and marine life, to the extent that you cannot use chloramine-treated water to fill up a fish tank or backyard fish pond. As the water runs into streams, rivers and other marine areas, it could be disastrous for the marine life.
So while water utilities stand to save money by cutting chlorine costs with chloramine, the benefits to the public are far less clear. Other potential concerns include:
Because of chloramine’s corrosive nature, it has been linked to pinhole pitting in copper water pipes, which can lead to small water leaks and mold growth in your home.
Chloramine also corrodes rubber toilet flappers and gaskets, rubber hoses, and rubber fittings in dishwashers and water heaters, leading to costly home repairs.
Chloramine de-elasticizes PVC pipes, making them brittle and accelerating the leaching of possible carcinogens from the plastic into drinking water.
Chloramine is difficult to remove from your water, but it can be done.
Chloramine cannot be removed by quick boiling your water or letting it sit out in an open container (as is sometimes recommended for chlorine). A carbon filter can remove the chemical from your drinking water, but that leaves your shower and bath – a significant route of exposure — without protection. It would be helpful to take as cold a shower as possible as heat will convert more of the chemicals to a toxic gas. Additionally shorter showers will also obviously further limit your exposure.
Because of the high flow rate and large volume of water passing through your shower, there is no showerhead filter on the market that will effectively remove all chloramine. A whole-house filtration system is therefore your best choice to remove chlorine, chloramine, ammonia, DBPs and other contaminants from all of your water sources (bath, shower and tap).
WHOLE WORLD Water seeks to prove that economic, social, and environmental progress are not mutually exclusive. Developed to end the global water and sanitation crisis, WHOLE WORLD Water works to engage the hospitality and tourism industry to filter, bottle, and sell its own water, and contribute 10% of the proceeds to the WHOLE WORLD Water Fund. 100% of the proceeds will go directly to clean and safe water initiatives worldwide. We believe that everyone should have access to clean and safe water. Visit Sir Richard Branson
Any donation no matter how small assists Save the Water™ in researching and publishing educational articles. Your support is appreciated as STW™ relies on your assistance to continue each day providing this information. Click here to help support Save the Water™
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Introduction: Part 2 of 3: Bayou Corne – Grand Bayou sinkhole series May 17, 2013 / Anthony Kozuh Research Director / STW™
Part two of this Save the Water™ special water education edition chronologically covers the history and timeline facts of the Bayou Corne – Grand Bayou sinkhole, beginning two months prior the actual collapse on August 3, 2012 until May 16, 2013. The videos within this report will assist you in visualizing the actual magnitude of this situation and I personally recommend to view these videos as pictures speak more than words. [ Click full screen: videos will be in high definition ]
Part three: 05/18/2013 will consist of scientific facts regarding sink holes, videos, and material to assist you in further research of the Bayou Corne – Grand Bayou environmental – water crisis. We wish to thank WBRZ , TheAdvocate.com and WWLTV.com for the detailed coverage they have provided since the outset of this water crisis.
PIERRE PART – Assumption Parish authorities are holding a meeting to discuss a natural gas leak causing bubbles in Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou.
For seven years, Shelly Hernandez has called Bayou Corne home. “I really love the area, it was very peaceful until we started having gas bubbling,” she said. For weeks now they’ve been blistering the surface of Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou, leaving residents living on these bayous concerned. “This is not an accident, this is something that’s been caused by someone,” said resident Randy Rousseau. But no one seems to know who. One thing parish officials do know is that the bubbles are caused by a natural gas leak. “It’s the fear of the unknown… we been seeing it, and wondered about it, and knew it wasn’t natural,” Rousseau said.
The parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness is investigating the leak. Officials say there’s no serious risk of it catching fire. “There’s been no readings to show flamability of the product coming from bubbles, as of right now, no water ways or any evacuations have happened,” said parish OHSEP Manager John Boudreaux. But Rousseau says he’s not waiting around for that to happen. “I have a house and business in Grand Bayou, I don’t live there anymore. I bought other property, my wife and I didn’t feel safe,” he said.
BELLE ROSE- Residents living on Bayou Corne, in Assumption Parish, are living with fear, because of the uncertainty of a natural gas leaks, that’s boiling to the top of the bayou. Today, USGS will be installing seismic monitors in the area where the bubbles are appearing.
Gas bubbles continue in Bayou Corne.
Jul 18, 2012 / Education timeline courtesy of WBRZ..read more
NAPOLEONVILLE – Analysts pulled gas samples today from the bubbling Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou areas in their continuing search to find out what’s causing them. The Department of Environmental Quality and Department of Natural Resources have been in the area since July 14 trying to determine the source of the gas bubbles. A spokesperson said samples taken today were intended to validate samples the teams had already pulled from the area. The U. S. Geological Survey encouraged people living in the area to continue to report any tremors felt in the community to the Assumption Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, either online or by calling (985) 369-7386.
BELLE ROSE – Assumption Parish officials believe an abandon well leaking natural gas could be what’s causing bubbles on Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou.
A resident came across the abandoned well two days ago off La. 70, in a swamp near Bayou Corne. Officials said the well is leaking flammable natural gas, but the chance of any ignition is 35 percent. Although a lot of fingers point to this well as the cause for the bubbling bayou, officials still aren’t saying the mystery’s solved. “We have to check and try and determine what is the source of the gas that is bubbling in Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou, if this is related to one larger incident,” said Assumption Parish Emergency Preparedness manager John Boudreaux. Residents said at this point, they don’t know what to believe. “I’m not a scientist, I’m not an engineer, I don’t know any of this stuff, I’m just having to take people at their word for it. But we feel like we’re not getting enough real concrete answers to make us feel safe,” said Bucky Mistretta. Engineers plan to excavate around the well on Thursday to see if it really is the really problem.
BAYOU CORNE – A sinkhole formed overnight in an area of Assumption Parish swamps that have been bubbling for several weeks now.
John Boudreaux, the director of the parish office of emergency preparedness, said the sinkhole measured about 200 feet by 200 feet and several trees had fallen into it. He said the sinkhole is on private land near the Texas Brine Co. LLC facility, near the areas of Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou which have been the site of unexplained gas bubbles for some time. Boudreaux said they will bring in a helicopter from Alexandria later today to get a better look at the sinkhole. Federal and state officials have been in the area searching for the cause of the bubbling and reported tremors in the area, but have not narrowed down a cause for the phenomena yet.
BAYOU CORNE – Parish officials are now calling what they initially said was a “sinkhole” a “slurry area” near bubbling bayous in Assumption Parish.
According to a press people in Bayou Corne reported a strong diesel smell this morning. Shortly after that authorities identified a “slurry area” where several trees had collapsed in a swamp area between Grand Bayou and Bayou Corne. State Police and parish emergency officials will fly over the site this afternoon to see if there are any other slurry areas. Other agencies will continue to monitor for any other slurry sites or expansion of the existing area. Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou have been the site of gas bubbling for the past few weeks, as well as tremors reported by people living in the area. So far no definite cause for the bubbling or tremors has been identified.
Officials say diesel found in liquefied swampland.
Aug 6, 2012 / Education timeline courtesy of WBRZ..read more
BATON ROUGE – State officials say preliminary slurry water samples pulled from the acre of swampland that liquefied into muck over the weekend indicate the presence of small amounts of diesel hydrocarbons.
The pond of muck, located in Assumption Parish, first appeared Friday night and grew quickly, bending a 36-inch natural gas pipeline buried 16 feet in the ground as the muck expanded. About 150 homes and several businesses were ordered to evacuate after Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency for the parish when the slurry area appeared to be expanding. The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality says it has not determined where diesel may be coming from. They plan to take more tests. Meanwhile parish officials say the size of the slurry hole has not changed since Sunday.
Hundreds evacuate while agencies monitor sinkhole.
ASSUMPTION PARISH – Nearly 200 people left the Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou area after a sinkhole caused officials to order a mandatory evacuation.
The massive sinkhole, the size of a football field, is located about 2,000 feet behind Shelly Hernandez’s house. “We don’t know what’s going to happen. I feared this all along: something sinking, something blowing up,” Hernandez said. That concern has officials on high alert. Today diesel was found in the area, which officials believe is coming from an inactive cavern on the property of Texas Brine. The Houston-based company brought in geologists and geo-mechanical experts today to begin examining the inactive mine cavern, and see if it is the cause of the sinkhole and the mysterious natural gas bubbles recently found in the two bayous.
Parish officials are monitoring the area to make sure the diesel doesn’t reach a level where it could possibly ignite. “Air monitors that monitor the community have not shown any danger levels that would affect anything, but it is definitely there,” said emergency preparedness director John Boudreaux. But what’s behind all of this, is still up in the air. “Still fear of unknown,” said Hernandez, “because nobody knows anything.” Officials scheduled a community meeting Tuesday evening to brief the public about what they’ve found so far. The meeting is set for Aug. 7 at 6:30 p.m. at the St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church Hall in Pierre Part, located on Highway 70. See Photos Video
Scientists to examine sinkhole.
Adrian Pittman: BAYOU CORNE – The company which owns land a massive sinkhole appeared on sent in experts today to see if they could connect it to bubbles that had been popping up in the nearby Assumption Parish bayous. A mandatory evacuation is still in affect for people living near Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou after the massive sinkhole was discovered. Parish officials are monitoring the area on Texas Brine’s 40-acre facility south of La. 70, and as of now it hasn’t grown. The Houston-based company is bringing in geologists and geo-mechanical experts today to begin examining an inactive salt mine cavern to see if it is the cause of the sinkhole and the mysterious natural gas bubbles recently found in the two bayous.
BAYOU CORNE- Assumption Parish, State, and facility owners will meet with people who live near a sinkhole that developed Friday. The sinkhole may be caused by a failure in a brine cavern inside a salt dome. The sinkhole is connected with some bubbles that appeared in Bayou Corne earlier this summer. The meeting is set for Tuesday, August 7, 2012, at 6:30 p.m. at the St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church Hall in Pierre Part, located on Highway 70.
When the ground collapsed it also damaged a pipeline. Because of that, Highway 70 was closed- and remains closed- it may open overnight. The line is being depressurized. Friday night, people who live near the sinkhole were evacuated. A shelter at Belle Rose Middle School was opened.
State: salt dome, mining operation failure likely cause of sinkhole and bubbles
Trey Schmaltz: BATON ROUGE- State experts now think a failed salt dome, or mining operation, in Assumption Parish led to a sinkhole Friday and is also connected to a bubbling phenomenon in Bayou Corne as well as tremors in the area. “Through consultation with all the scientists involved, DNR has determined that the potential failure of a portion of an inactive salt-mining cavern near the area … is a likely cause of the occurrence and possibly the recent natural gas bubbling,” the state said in a news release late Friday.
The sinkhole developed sometime early Friday morning, a mandatory evacuation order was issued for the people who live near it about 16 hours later. “The Office of Conservation has issued an emergency order requiring a brine solution company to take steps to evaluate the structural integrity of one its inactive salt caverns,” the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources said. According to DNR, state leaders have been in contact with the company, and Texas Brine has “indicated that it intends to cooperate fully to evaluate the status of its cavern and take action to address any potential failure in structural integrity.” The bubbles are a natural gas mixture, and air monitoring is taking place. No unsafe air-related pollutants were found. The bubbles began about two months ago, followed by earthquakes, then the sinkhole on Friday. People in the area were asked to leave Friday night, a shelter was established at a school.
Cavern described.
Trey Schmaltz: BATON ROUGE- A representative for Texas Brine described what’s under Bayou Corne as a vase, where brine – a mixture of water and salt- is extracted from salt domes and used in various compounds. Under Bayou Corne, a cavern was created in a salt dome- nearly a mile under ground.
The operation was running for twenty years before it was shuttered three years ago. Now, a brine mixture fills the cavern where salt once formed. Company leaders aren’t sure what’s caused a sinkhole or bubbles in the area. But, Friday night, experts with the state blamed a possible failure in the salt dome. It had been described as a “stable formation” by a company representative, now they’re looking to see what issues, if any, there are with the cavern. The cavern is large enough to hold millions of barrels of the brine mixture. Texas Brine operates as many as four other similar operations in the Assumption Parish area- those are active.
BAYOU CORNE – Authorities in Assumption Parish reported that the slurry area near Bayou Corne grew overnight.
The National Guard took infared readings by helicopter overnight, and observed the sinkhole grew by 10 to 20 feet from north to south. Earlier today authorities said they were taking readings for naturally-ocurring radiation in the area of the sinkhole, which may have been left over from oil and gas exploration in the area. They said additional monitoring near bubbling areas of the bayou detected no radiation. A state Department of Environmental Quality Mobile Lab arrived on site today to check air quality levels in the Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou communities. A mandatory evacuation order for residents in the Bayou Corne community remains in effect. Click here for more updates from the Assumption Parish Police Jury’s blog about the sinkhole.
Residents near sinkhole voice relief well concerns
ASSUMPTION PARISH – A company that owns an operation blamed for a massive sinkhole in Assumption Parish is expected to begin drilling an exploratory well by the end of the weekend.
The well drilled by Texas Brine LLC, will investigate a salt cavern experts believe is behind a massive sinkhole and mysterious bubbles in Bayou Corne. Neighbors are concerned about the risks that could come with drilling, including the possibility it could collapse the salt dome cavern. The nearest neighbor is about 25,000 feet from the site of the relief-well. Experts say at this point, they don’t anticipate risks but residents say they’re not taking any chances. “We’re going to have to leave. There’s too many ifs, and I can’t live with ifs. Because one of those ifs could put me on the other side of the grass,” says Duane Bier. Parts of the rig will start arriving tomorrow from Lafayette. The rig will be installed by layers, and once complete, it will be about 14 stories high.
BAYOU CORNE – Emergency personnel rescued two workers who were cleaning up a portion of the Assumption Parish sinkhole when their boat was caught in it.
The Assumption Parish Police Jury said the workers were on the southwest side of the sinkhole when 50 feet of land collapsed into it, trapping their boat. The workers had to be rescued by an airboat, and shortly afterward the boat they were originally in was swallowed by the sinkhole. Authorities said all workers have been accounted for and no injuries were reported. Cleanup operations near the sinkhole have been suspended as a precaution. Crews with Texas Brine LLC are building a drilling rig to get into a salt cavern near the sinkhole to learn more about what caused it. The sinkhole appeared more than a week ago and has continued to grow as land surrounding it breaks off into the slurry area. Health and environmental monitors in the area haven’t found any health threats from the sinkhole, or bubbling that continues in the surrounding bayous.
Texas Brine Co. LLC suspended cleanup work at a large sinkhole in northern Assumption Parish after the southwestern edge of the slurry area collapsed Thursday morning, company and parish officials said.
Two workers with Texas Brine’s cleanup contractor, Clean Harbors of Norwell, Mass., were rescued from their small aluminum boat by a co-worker in an airboat shortly before the workers’ boat sank into the sinkhole along with the collapsing earth, the officials said. Assumption Parish Sheriff Mike Waguespack said the boat was tied to a leaning tree on the shoreline. The workers saw the tree begin to move and managed to get out the way, escaping with their equipment at about 8:30 a.m., the officials said.
that extended from the shoreline to about 50 feet inland. The sheriff said bubbling in the sinkhole intensified after the collapse. The sinkhole was discovered Aug. 3 about 200 feet from the well pad of a plugged and abandoned Texas Brine salt cavern in an area between Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou and south of La. 70 South. The collapse Thursday was on the well pad side of the sinkhole.
Louisiana Department of Natural Resources scientists suspect the cavern failed, released its brine contents and caused the sinkhole, which swallowed up forested swamps. A mandatory evacuation order has remained in place since the evening of Aug. 3 for the Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou areas. Parish officials have said the order affects about 150 residences.
DNR officials have ordered Texas Brine of Houston to drill a relief well to get a better understanding of what is happening with the cavern, a process that could take at least 40 days. Other developments also emerged from news statements Thursday and in recent interviews:
Texas Brine Co. LLC contractor Worley Catastrophe Response will begin distributing weekly housing assistance checks for $875 at 10:30 a.m. Friday at the Sheriff’s Office substation, 4024 La. 70 S., Pierre Part, to households affected by the evacuation order.
DNR and Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality officials said Thursday that a Crosstex Energy LP of Dallas salt cavern containing 940,000 barrels of liquid butane poses “little to no threat” to populations near the slurry hole.
Sonny Cranch, Texas Brine spokesman, said company officials expected that the edges of the sinkhole would continue gradually to fall in, or slough off, making the sinkhole bigger and shallower. In an updated estimate of the hole’s size Wednesday evening — before the Thursday collapse — state officials said the sinkhole was expanding at the edges, though still much smaller than the maximum size estimated by DNR scientists.
The statement said the sinkhole was 476 feet from the northeast to the southwest sides and 640 feet from the northwest to the southeast. “This natural growth of the sinkhole was expected and could continue,” the Wednesday statement said.
On Thursday after the collapse, Cranch said company officials will re-evaluate the sinkhole Monday to see if it has stabilized and will deploy more oil retardant boom. “But (workers) will not continue physical cleanup activities until they evaluate the sinkhole on Monday,” he said.
Workers with Clean Harbors have been collecting vegetation floating in the sinkhole in preparation for vacuuming diesel on the water’s surface. Cranch said the cleanup will move forward even though the sloughing process is continuing. “We’re not ready to abandon efforts to clean up the sinkhole at this time,” Cranch said. “We think that work can continue and continue safely as the sinkhole continues to stabilize.”
Despite the setback on cleanup, Cranch said the delivery of drilling rig parts to Texas Brine’s facility continued Thursday and assembly is underway. Drilling work could start late Friday or early Saturday, Cranch said. Worley Catastrophe Response, which will coordinate and manage the “Bayou Corne Incident Evacuee Fund” for Texas Brine, plans to issue checks to the representative of each household affected by the evacuation order, Texas Brine officials said.
The representative will have to display a Louisiana driver’s license or “other reasonably acceptable photo identification confirming residence in the evacuation zone,” company officials said in a news release. The original permit for the Texas Brine cavern requires the operator to provide assistance to residents in areas deemed to be at immediate potential risk, state officials have said. The requirement is triggered in the event of a sinkhole and evacuation, state officials said. Crosstex also submitted a revised worst-case scenario analysis in its risk management plan Wednesday at the request of DEQ Secretary Peggy Hatch. In a statement Thursday, DEQ officials noted that the cavern, which is a half-mile underground and far below the bottom of the sinkhole, cannot release its liquid butane contents without water being pumped into the cavern to push out the butane. The butane is also being held in the absence of oxygen.
“While it is easy to simply convert the known quantity of butane into a blast scenario, that does not mean this scenario is possible,” DEQ officials said in a statement. Crosstex’s other nearby cavern, which has the capacity to hold 1.7 million barrels, has no hydrocarbons inside and is filled with brine at present, company officials said in their letter. The sinkhole’s emergence followed more than two months of earth tremors and mysterious natural gas releases in Bayou Corne, Grand Bayou and water wells.
The gas bubbling has continued since the sinkhole emerged. Tremors ceased the day before the sinkhole was found. The Texas Brine salt cavern was carved out of the 1-mile by 3-mile Napoleonville Dome, a large underground salt deposit. The cavern, which was used to produce brine for industry and never for natural gas storage, was plugged and abandoned in June 2011 after company officials ran into trouble trying to expand the cavern.
BAYOU CORNE- Scientists discovered a salt brine cavern, deep under Assumption Parish, has been damaged. Seismic activity in the area is blamed.
“The cavern damage was caused by an external source,” a spokesperson for Texas Brine said in a news release late Monday. Texas Brine operated a brine operation in the Bayou Corne/ Grand Bayou area years ago. Caverns were created inside a salt dome, deep underground to extract brine. In May, people began reporting tremors and bubbles in the bayous. Over the summer, ground subsided and created a sinkhole. Since then, crews have been trying to determine the cause- and what can be done to fix the situation.
“The tool used to measure cavern depth bottomed out at approximately 4,000 feet – a point estimated to be 1,300 feet higher than the floor had been measured prior to the cavern closure in 2011,” a representative of Texas Brine reported. “This preliminary finding indicates that some type of dense material has fallen to the bottom of the cavern. A sample of the material has been retrieved from the cavern floor and will be analyzed.” That material is described as abnormal, compared to what should be found in the sealed cavern. “Sonar inspection that is currently being conducted will provide a more detailed image of the cavern’s interior conditions and the possible source of the material at its base.” An entire community was evacuated, and still is not allowed to return.
Residents angry as Assumption sinkhole continues collapsing.
BAYOU CORNE, La. — The Assumption Parish sinkhole is a lot like a living, breathing thing. More than 200 days after it mysteriously started swallowing up the swamp, hundreds of residents are still under a mandatory evacuation order.
Geophysicists say the cavern that caused the sinkhole at the surface is still collapsing, leaving Bayou Corne residents wondering if there will ever be an end in sight. Bayou Corne has always been a peaceful place. Spanish moss dangles from the trees and inlets that lead to Grand Bayou are intertwined with the streets like a braid. Most of the homes are situated with a bit of the bayou in their backyards, and that’s exactly why most residents called the area home.
“We could drop the boat right there to go fishing. It was just like a paradise,” said former Bayou Corne resident Jamie Weber. Weber decided to move hear family out last fall. A sign on her old home says “Evaucated: Thank you Texas Brine.” She had no idea that she was putting her mobile home on land on top of an underground salt dome. The Napoleon Salt Dome is full of caverns that have been mined to make brine, or salt water. Other caverns on the dome have been used to store hazardous, potentially explosive gasses, like Butane.
Geophyisicists now say the western side of one of the brine caverns is collapsing, filling in from deep in the Earth, causing the sinkhole at the surface to expand and contract. “On Oct. 25, we moved out of our home when we finally found a rent house because they had put a vent well a hundred yards from my house,” Weber told a joint legislative committee at a hearing on the sinkhole at the State Capitol last week.
She and some of the 350 evacuated Bayou Corne residents packed the Baton Rouge hearing looking for answers. Many of the ones they keep getting are conflicting and confusing, especially from the state and the company that once mined the collapsing salt cavern Texas Brine. “The cause of the sinkhole is the subject of pending litigation. At this point, I don’t think it’s proper to have any discussion about what the cause is and whether we accept what anyone has said regarding the cause of the sinkhole,” Troy Charpentier, an attorney for Texas Brine, told the committee.
The secretary of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources flat-out testified at the same hearing, “The cavern collapse led to the sinkhole and created a path for the natural gas to come to the surface.” But Secretary Stephen Chustz slipped out a backdoor, with his press secretary only offering an interview with himself after the hearing without giving us the chance to ask him any questions.
One of those questions: What caused the cavern to collapse?
“The sinkhole is constantly changing. It changes every time we go out there. Not just on the surface, but in the sub-surface,” said Gary Hecox, a hydrogeologist with CB&I, formerly the Shaw Group, who is a consultant for the state about how to best handle the sinkhole. He said it’s uncharted territory.
“The cavern was 3,400 feet deep, which is deeper than any known cavern failure impacting the surface in the international record,” Hecox said. Nowhere in the world has a brine cavern this large collapsed, and Hecox said the data shows it’s not finished yet. “We still have 450 feet to fill. How long is it gonna take to fill this up? At one foot per day, we’re still looking at an event that’s gonna run over a year,” he said.
Every time it shifts, recently installed seismic monitors pick up tremors like little earthquakes. When it does, big bubbles of natural gas, vegetation and crude oil are released to the surface. They call it a “burp”. “It appears that the sand and gravel that’s in the bottom of the sinkhole breaks up a large gas bubble into many small bubbles just like an aquarium,” Hecox continued, “That is a good thing. Because if you get a single bubble up and have an ignition source you can have a flash over.”
A flash over is an explosion, like the kind you can see if you leave the gas on too long before lighting a propane grill. But Hecox said a large natural gas bubble from the sinkhole lit by any ignition source could mean major damage on the surface. Instead those little bubbles are coming out all around the actual sinkhole site in the form of bubble sites in the bayou. Twenty new bubble sites have been spotted in the last month.
Nine months after the first ones surfaced, Texas Brine started installing vent wells to alleviate the pressure underground. A drive down Hwy. 70 will show you several of them burning around Bayou Corne. “We continue to install relief wells as fast as we can and will continue to do so as they continue to be effective,” said Bruce Martin, vice president of Texas Brine. But in recent weeks, some of the residents who stayed behind, and are living in the area at their own risk, noticed some problems that are typically invisible to the naked eye.
Bubble sites popped up in neighborhoods that are typically dry during flooding after a recent rain storm. It caused Wilma Subra, a chemist with the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, to raise a red flag with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality. “A house acts like a tent. So, if it’s migrating up through the soil, and it’s being caught in the house, it’s building up concentrations in the house. And then if it reaches explosive level, then one little spark in the house would set it off,” Subra said.
One of the residents who has stayed behind, Nick Romero, also testified before the legislative committee. He now has five DEQ monitors installed in his house to measure natural gas and other chemicals. “We have had our grand kids and now we can’t. I love to fish. And now I don’t want to,” he told the committee members, choking back tears. The residents are struggling not just with the instability underground, but in their lives.
“Once they told us that they wanted to put monitors in our house and that we’d have to live like, to me, like lab rats, to me, that was no way for my kids to grow,” Weber said. Many feel forgotten, Weber said. Especially by Gov. Bobby Jindal. The governor has yet to visit the sinkhole site or publicly talk about it.
“He’s promoting plants around the area, chemical plants. And he was in the area and he wouldn’t, still to this day does not acknowledge it,” Weber said. In October and November of 2012, Jindal announced two chemical plant expansions a few miles from Bayou Corne, one in nearby Geismar and one in Donaldsonville.
But in six months, he’s made no visit to the sinkhole site.
“Where is he? Where is Jindal? He’s all over the United States, but he can’t come forty minutes south of Baton Rouge and visit,” Weber asked. As photos from the Louisiana Environmental Action Network show, when the sinkhole first appeared, it was just 400 feet in diameter. As of mid-February, it had swallowed nine acres. Scientists say the worst-case scenario is it could swallow 40 acres.
Even if it does, many, like Weber, are now just hoping Texas Brine will buy them out so they can move on. The company told residents that they are working to stabilize the area before tackling buy outs because some residents are still hoping to return. Lawmakers are planning another joint hearing on the sinkhole March 18. Katie Moore / Email: kmoore@wwltv.com / Twitter: @katiecmoore
High water driven by heavy rains poured inside a containment levee around the Assumption Parish sinkhole overnight Thursday and much of Friday, forcing workers to try to cut off the flow and to contain the hole’s brew of crude oil and brine.
The floodwater that piled up in surrounding swamplands cut five breaches in a low, incomplete section of the earthen berm along the sinkhole’s western and southwestern sides, pushing 3 feet of water into the 71-acre area the berm encircles, parish officials said. By Friday afternoon, Texas Brine Co. contractors were able to block two of the smallest breaches and part of a third, a company spokesman said. But the largest breaks remained open Friday evening because of access problems on the mucky berm’s top and continued rain and lightning. Oil-retardant boom had been deployed in an attempt to block any flow of the sinkhole’s oily contents into the freshwater swamps surrounding the sinkhole between the Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou communities, officials said.
John Boudreaux, director of the parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said the breaches occurred where prior subsidence problems had led Texas Brine to take corrective action by extending the berm to contain the low areas. He said water overtopped portions of the berm where the sand base had not yet gotten a clay cap. “One little trench can turn into a 50-foot gap in no time when it’s just sand,” Boudreaux said. Assumption Parish emergency officials posted two dramatic videos on their blog site that were taken before noon Friday from an airboat inside the berm area. As the boat moves toward the southwest corner of the berm in the first video, progressively larger cuts in the earthen levee can be seen with increasingly heavier water flow and occasional collapses of sand. At the largest gap shown in that video, a yellow curtain once used to contain silt from the berm floats off in the rushing current.
Right click on image & click view to enlarge
Containment boom had not been laid out at that point, parish officials said. A second video shows the largest breach of all, about 75 feet across, with water levels nearly equalized between the swamps and inside the berm area, leaving an idle excavator sitting in shallow water.
Boudreaux said the smallest breaches were 10 feet wide or less.The second-largest was 30 feet across. The Louisiana Office of Conservation ordered Texas Brine to build the berm to contain brine and oil in the sinkhole, now 15.1 acres at the surface, and protect the surrounding swamps. The berm remains under construction and is in various stages of completion. Scientists believe an underground Texas Brine salt dome cavern failed and caused the sinkhole to surface in August, prompting an evacuation of residents in Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou. Parish and state officials said they did not believe a risk of contamination existed while floodwater flowed from the swamps into the berm-protected area. But Patrick Courreges, spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, said regulators focused immediately on getting into place protective booms once water levels of the swamp and 71-acre containment area equalized and currents subsided.
These floating booms would be needed to prevent any hydrocarbons on the sinkhole’s surface from flowing out into the freshwater swamps, they said. “The major issue is to make any contaminants that are in there, stay in there,” Courreges said Friday. When asked, he said the brine in the sinkhole is dense and should remain in place beneath the layer of less-dense freshwater that flowed into the berm area. But he said the brine will be monitored.
Western Berm Breach 5-10-13 Part II
Because of problems going over wet clay on part of the berm’s southern leg, contractors worked Friday to finish the first phase of the V-shaped extension, or “bump out,” as a route to reach the largest breaches. But poor weather, including close lightning strikes, halted Texas Brine’s work Friday afternoon, Boudreaux said. The berm extension was nearly finished except for a small gap. “They can haul sand in the rain. I think their intention is to do that and finish the bump out and give good access to the bigger breaches,” he said.
Sonny Cranch, Texas Brine spokesman, said one line of boom was placed at the remaining open breaches and two more redundant layers of boom will be installed on the inside and outside of those gaps once weather improves. “This weather is kind of shutting everything down,” Cranch said.
All 5 holes in Assumption sinkhole’s containment berm now plugged.
Texas Brine Co. contractors plugged the final two breaches in a containment berm around the Assumption Parish sinkhole by early Tuesday after heavy rain and high water punched through the incomplete earthen barrier late last week, authorities said. With the holes plugged, Sonny Cranch, spokesman for Texas Brine, said workers resumed on Tuesday the previously planned work of building up the earthen levee surrounding the 71-acre area containing the sinkhole near the Bayou Corne community.
“Berm breaches are all repaired,” he said in an email Tuesday. John Boudreaux, director of the parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said workers finished filling the last, largest breach about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. It was about 75 feet across and 4 to 5 feet deep, he said. Texas Brine officials said in an email response to questions that work on the berm is expected to last another 45 to 60 days, barring any further delays from weather or underground tremors. The failures on the western and southwestern sides of the levee led to initial fears that crude oil in the 15.1-acre sinkhole’s waters might escape into surrounding freshwater swamp.
But parish and company officials have said it does not appear that happened and protective boom was deployed to prevent it. The Louisiana Office of Conservation ordered the berm installed to prevent contamination from the sinkhole. The swampland hole emerged last August after a Texas Brine salt dome cavern failed deep underground. Residents of the Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou communities remain under evacuation orders issued for their own safety. Texas Brine contractors gained initial containment around the sinkhole Feb. 22 with a first layer of sand, but the project has hit periodic delays due to weather and tremors, burps of gas and oil, and edge collapses around the sinkhole. Overnight Thursday, floodwater began pouring through five openings eroded over a low section of the berm that had an initial sand base but lacked the geotextile fabric and clay cap designed to protect the structure from high water.
Water inside the original 71-acre berm encircling the sinkhole rose an estimated 3 feet from the earthen wall failures. Texas Brine and parish officials said there aren’t plans to drain the floodwater, but final plans call for two drainage structures, including a water control weir now being manufactured. John Boudreaux, director of the parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said it is possible water inside the berm will drain into the sinkhole because that had happened previously.
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Introduction to 3 part Bayou Corne – Grand Bayou sinkhole series May 16, 2013 / Anthony Kozuh Research Director / STW™
May 31, 2012: Assumption Parish officials were notified of areas of bubbling spots in the Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou waterways. It was determined at an earlier time that the bubbling was caused by a release of natural gas and not “swamp gas”. Monitoring for carbon monoxide, H2Sm and Lower Explosive Levels (LEL) at the bubbling spots began on June 22, 2012. During this monitoring, no dangerous levels were detected. Residents of the area relaxed upon hearing the findings. That ease was short lived.
Sinking Trees @ 4 X Speed Shows Clearly What Happened. 30 second visual
August 3, 2012: Assumption Parish Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness Director John Boudreaux was notified that during the past evening a sinkhole had formed in the swamp in the area and was discovered after a strong diesel smell was noticed in the vicinity of the sinkhole. Later that same day, Assumption Parish officials called for a mandatory evacuation of residents in the community. Assumption Parish officials requested assistance of state agencies to become involved in the emergency. The Bayou Corne – Grand Bayou sinkhole began – can it end?
This three part Save the Water™ special edition begins with the history and timeline facts of the Bayou Corne – Grand Bayou sinkhole. Part two: 05/17/2013 will consist of timeline news articles from all sides. Part three: 05/18/2013 will consist of scientific facts, videos, and material to assist you in further research of the Bayou Corne – Grand Bayou environmental -water crisis.
(CNN) — Louisiana officials are investigating whether an underground salt cavern may be responsible for a large sinkhole that has swallowed 100-foot-tall cypress trees and prompted evacuations in a southern Louisiana bayou.The state’s Department of Natural Resources ordered Texas Brine Company, which mines the cavern, to drill a well into the cavern to see whether it caused the dark gray slurry-filled hole nearby.
Measurements taken Monday showed the sinkhole measures 324 feet in diameter and is 50 feet deep, but in one corner it goes down 422 feet, said John Boudreaux, director of the Office of Homeland Security in Assumption Parish, about 30 miles south of Baton Rouge.Assumption Parish Police said Thursday the sinkhole has since grown another 10 to 20 feet.The sinkhole appeared August 3, more than two months after local residents started noticing bubbles in the water. The bubbles grew in number and frequency, and in some spots they made the bayou look like a boiling crawfish pot, said Dennis Landry, who owns guest cabins about half a mile from the hole.
Police ordered the evacuation of all residents from the area, though Landry said it’s not a forced evacuation so he and his wife have decided to stay. “When you have a beautiful home like I have on the bayou and have a little business that I run in the home, it would be very difficult to leave this behind,” he told CNN. “We kind of feel that if something drastic were to happen, we could jump in a car and get out of here.”
Assumption Parish Sheriff Mike Waguespack said Thursday he is now concerned the sinkhole is close to a well containing 1.5 million barrels of liquid butane, a highly volatile liquid that turns into a highly flammable vapor upon release. A breach of that well, he said, could be catastrophic. The salt cavern is part of the Napoleonville salt dome that sits under the area. Salt domes are large, ancient formations of salt in the ground that are used for the commercial mining of petroleum, salt and sulphur, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Texas Brine says it mines salt domes to produce brine, a salt-filled water used for the manufacture of chlorine and caustic soda, which in turn are used in products ranging from paper and plastics to pharmaceuticals. Salt domes can be as deep as 10,000 feet and are mostly found along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico and in Texas and Louisiana, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Louisiana has more than 100 identified salt domes, according to the state’s Department of Natural Resources.
Texas Brine is investigating whether a breach in its salt cavern might have caused the sinkhole 100 yards away, company spokesman Sonny Cranch said from the site. The company conducted ground imaging of the dome and well Thursday and plans to do satellite imaging soon, Cranch said. Landry said his business, Cajun Cabins of Bayou Corne, has stalled ever since people found out about the sinkhole.
“Our beautiful little paradise is in jeopardy,” he said.
He said he suspects a cavern collapse is to blame, and he said there’s a fear in the community that a further collapse could enlarge the sinkhole and endanger a wider area. Local emergency planning officials are keeping residents updated through online blog posts and community meetings, he said. They’ve had three so far. Local residents and the sheriff say the Department of Natural Resources “knew for months” that the Texas Brine well had integrity problems but didn’t tell local authorities.
“DNR failed to report to anybody that this cavern could be the source of the bubbles,” Landry said. “I’m very upset about it. A lot of local residents are upset about it,” he said. “I feel like I’ve been betrayed by the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources.” Said the sheriff, “DNR has lost all credibility with me.”
Landowners near the sinkhole filed a lawsuit this week against the DNR and Texas Brine, claiming the drinking water has now been contaminated by a problem both the department and company allegedly knew about. “They’re trying to make this something to deal with one well. It’s not just one well, it’s the whole system of Grand Bayou. They just ignored it,” said John Carmouche, a partner with Talbot, Carmouche, and Marcello in Baton Rouge who represents the landowners. A representative for DNR could not be reached for comment Thursday evening.
Landry flew over the sinkhole the other day and said diesel and other chemicals are floating on top of the sludge. Some of the tall cypress trees that fell in are now floating on top of the hole because of the buoyancy of the salty water, he said. Landry said he and his wife were taking a boat ride on the bayou when they first noticed the bubbles May 30. He knew there are three natural gas pipelines in the area, including one about 20 feet away fromthe bubbles, so he reported the bubbles to Crosstex, the line’s Texas-based owner.
Later, he also called Enterprise Products, whose Acadian Gas pipelines also go through the area. Both companies checked their lines for weeks, bringing in divers and crews to swim down and look for leaks, but every time they reported finding no problems, Landry said. Once officials eliminated gas pipelines as the source of the bubbles, Landry said, they began checking gas storage domes and abandoned wells in the area. They were still looking for the source when the sinkhole popped up last Friday, he said.
While Landry said he feels somewhat safe for now, he laments what is happening to his “sportsman’s paradise” on the bayou. “I believe in the good book, and they say in there that all things shall pass, and this too shall pass, but it remains to be seen in what form it will pass,” Landry said. Sinkhole scares reporter live on TV / CNN’s Carma Hassan and Nigel Walwyn contributed to this report.
Aug 10, 2012
A Louisiana sinkhole that is 324 feet in diameter and reaches as deep as 422 feet in one corner continues to grow and caused evacuations today. Officials believe an underground salt cavern is the reason the hole opened up and swallowed 100-foot-tall cypress trees. The hole first came to attention a week ago when residents noticed bubbles in the water of the southern Louisiana bayou. Assumption Parish Sheriff Mike Waguespack said he is worried that the hole may contain 1.5 million barrels of liquid butane, which is a highly volatile liquid. It becomes an extremely flammable vapor upon release. Texas Brine Company, which mines the cavern, is investigating to see if the circumstances are indeed dangerous. Local residents say the Department of Natural Resources has known for months that the Texas Brine well had integrity problems. Louisiana probes cause of massive bayou sinkhole
Louisiana officials are investigating whether an underground salt cavern may be responsible for a large sinkhole that has swallowed 100-foot-tall cypress trees and prompted evacuations in a southern Louisiana bayou. The state’s Department of Natural Resources ordered Texas Brine Company, which mines the cavern, to drill a well into the cavern to see whether it caused the dark gray slurry-filled hole nearby. Measurements taken Monday showed the sinkhole measures 324 feet in diameter and is 50 feet deep, but in one corner it goes down 422 feet, said John Boudreaux, director of the Office of Homeland Security in Assumption Parish, about 30 miles south of Baton Rouge. Assumption Parish police said Thursday the sinkhole has since grown another 10 to 20 feet. Click Here For Lake Peigneur Part One:Video – Lake Peigneur could be worse than Assumption sinkhole Click Here For Lake Peigneur Part Two:Largest man-made vortex – Lake Peigneur update – special report.
Louisiana sinkhole news & flyover
April 02 – 09, 2013
BACKGROUND: In Spring of 2012, Louisiana’s Corne and Grand Bayou residents noticed strange bubbling in the bayou for many weeks, and they reported smelling burnt diesel fuel and sulfur. Then suddenly a sinkhole the size of three football fields appeared on Aug. 3, swallowing scores of 100-foot tall cypress trees. The sinkhole resulted from the failure of Texas Brine Company’s abandoned underground brine cavern. The Department of Natural Resources issued a Declaration of Emergency on Aug. 6, and 150 families were evacuated.
“Assumption sinkhole raises concerns”
sinkhole measured 324′ now affects acres
It seems to be the stuff of science fiction, but the giant sinkhole at Bayou Corne in Assumption Parish is all too real. The gaping hole in the ground has displaced about 350 nearby residents and has drawn concern about the environmental impact and physical safety of people nearby. And with good reason. The sinkhole, which last August spontaneously yawned open, preceded by unusual bubbling in Bayou Corne, has continued to grow and so far has devoured real estate, trees and at least one boat.
Gov. Bobby Jindal recently announced after a meeting with company officials that Houston-based Texas Brine Co., LLC, will offer buyouts to residents who want to relocate and settlements to those who choose to continue living near the now-9-acre sinkhole. That seems fair. As the governor pointed out in a recent article in The Daily Advertiser, “They caused the situation. They’ve got to make it right.”
Scientists have said the sinkhole opened up when a salt cavern operated by Texas Brine collapsed. Texas Brine had been extracting brine from the cavern and piping it to petrochemical facilities. Methane, oil and natural gas were released into the pit from formations along the face of the cavern. The disaster has attracted some high-profile attention. Environmental activist Erin Brockovich, played by Julia Roberts in the movie by the same name, recently visited Assumption Parish to meet with the still-displaced residents. She was accompanied by Thomas V. Girardi, one of the attorneys who helped Brockovich obtain a $333 million settlement in the famous case depicted in the movie. He has been hired by some of the local residents.
It seems somewhat strange that news of sinkholes has been rare — until now. Just recently, a man was killed in Florida when part of his house fell into a sinkhole that suddenly opened up. Since then three more sinkholes have opened up in the same area. An article in the New York Times reports that collapsing limestone under the neighborhood was the culprit. And according to the Florida Geological Survey website, Florida sits on a bed of porous limestone that is constantly dissolving and forming underground holes and caverns.
In Florida, the sinkholes seem to be the result of nature. The Louisiana sinkhole appears to be, if Jindal is right, the result of human intervention. It’s small wonder that people living in the vicinity of Lake Peigneur have been nervous about what appear to be bubbles on the lake. The Department of Natural Resources has assured the public that it’s just foam, not bubbles. Experts say there is no similarity between Lake Peigneur and the Assumption Parish sinkhole.
But some residents around the Iberia Parish lake remember the disaster that struck in 1980, when the entire lake drained like a bathtub into a 1,500-foot-deep salt cavern beneath, taking with it trees, structures, trucks, acres of land, 11 barges and the Texaco drilling rig that had punctured a 14-inch hole in the ceiling of the salt dome. The accident temporarily reversed the course of the Delcambre Canal and created a 150-foot waterfall.
The water all flowed back into the lake, but the sense of unease remained. Assurances aside, seeing the giant sinkhole open up near Bayou Corne would naturally add to their sense of apprehension. It certainly has raised a few questions. How many salt caverns are there in Louisiana? Where are they? Are they being used for storage of potentially toxic materials or other purposes? What safety protocols are in place to safeguard against collapse?
As the governor works to ease the plight of the Assumption Parish residents, officials should also be looking for answers to these questions and make sure all is as it should be. No one else should wake up one morning to find a gaping, toxic sinkhole encroaching on their neighborhood. Source: http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/…
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Our state legislators have once again shown little concern for the plight of the thousands of people living near Lake Peigneur, siding once again with the interests of AGL Resources, an out-of-state company attempting to push forward expansion plans that some believe could lead to a sinkhole catastrophe similar to the one playing out at Bayou Corne — as if that wasn’t example enough.
The example of the Bayou Corne sinkhole aside, the list of reason why Louisiana’s lawmakers should have overwhelmingly voted in favor of Senate Bill 200, authored by Sen. Fred Mills, R-Parks, is immense, and so is the support its received from the public, as well as from such entities as the Iberia Parish and Vermilion Parish governments, the City of New Iberia and the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Yet, when the vote was surprisingly called in the waning hours Tuesday, SB 200 failed 15 to 20. Nara Crowley, president of the nonprofit advocacy group Save Lake Peigneur, says Tuesday’s vote was unexpected, not necessarily the turnout, but how it was hurried before the Senate, and the fact that AGL somehow seemed tipped off to what was going down that day.
“AGL had 10 lobbyists working the Senate that day,” Crowley tells The IND. “We were given less than 12 hours notice, and were only able to get three people from our group there in time.”
Even more disheartening, though not all too surprising based on the Legislature’s record when dealing with similar Lake Peigneur related bills in recent years, is the fact that of the eight members of the Senate Natural Resources Committee, which extensively heard all the problems AGL’s plans posed not only to Lake Peigneur, but also the Chicot Aquifer, only five voted in favor of SB 200. Those nay votes came from Sen. Gerald Long, the committee’s chair, and Sen. Jody Amedee. Sen. Norbert Chabert was a no-show.
“We’ve had this happen so many times,” says Crowley. “We’ll think someone’s going to vote one way, but then the day comes and they don’t. We’ve gotten to the point that we just don’t expect our Legislators to do what’s right. The fact is they don’t listen to the people, especially when there’s so much outcry and it still fails. They just don’t listen to what the public has to say. Why? I’m sure there’s some gratuitous influence going on behind the scenes. Definitely.”
This issue is nothing new to the state Legislature — the people’s fight against AGL has been ongoing since the early-1990s, when the company first dredged the lake, creating its two existing caverns. Since, the fight has centered on AGL’s push to expand those and develop two additional caverns, all at the risk of close to 4,000 people living nearby. Not only did all wildlife vacate the area for several years following the company’s first dredging excursion, but on more than 80 occasions since 2006, residents have documented strange bubbling and foaming coming from the lake’s center. The foam was tested in 2006, showing high levels of methylene chloride — a component of natural gas — yet, residents are still awaiting an explanation from AGL, not to mention the state Department of Natural Resources, which like the Legislature, seems more on the side of industry than the people it was created to protect.
Fortunately for Crowley and other lake advocates, Sen. John Alario Jr., president of the senate, despite being among those against the legislation, did approve a request for a re-vote on SB 200, which is expected to go down sometime next week.
“We’ll be keeping as close a watch as possible,” says Crowley. “We’re thinking it’ll happen either Monday or Tuesday.”
The following list shows who voted for and against the bill, and those who didn’t vote at all:
Yeas:
Bret Allain II
Troy E. Brown
Page Cortez
A.G. Crowe
Jack Donahue
Yvonne Dorsey-Colomb
Dale Erdey
David Heitmeir
Eric LaFleur
Fred Mills
Jean-Paul Morrell
Blade Morrish
JP Perry
Karen Carter Peterson
Rick Ward III
Nays:
John Alario Jr. (Senate President)
Robert Adley
Jody Amedee
Conrad Appel
Sharon Broome
Sherri Buffington
Dan Claitor
Rick Gallot
Ronnie Johns
Bob Kostelka
Gerald Long
Danny Martiny
Edwin Murray
Ben Nevers
Barrow Peacock
Neil Riser
Gary Smith
Gregory Tarver
Francis Thompson
Mike Walsworth
Absent:
Norby Chabert
Elbert Guillory
John R. Smith
Bodi White
The Louisiana State Senate failed to pass a bill that would require an environmental impact study before a salt cavern expansion under Lake Peigneur, but the bill’s supporters are still hopeful it will pass into law. “We fell short last night,” said Sen. Fred Mills, R-Parks, who authored SB 200. “The vote was 15 to 20. We will work to rewrite the bill to get rid of any other ramifications and try again.”
The bill is aimed specifically to prevent AGL Resources from expanding its excavation under Lake Peigneur in Iberia Parish. Mills said he drafted the bill to protect residents from any potential threat posed by the company’s activity beneath the lake. AGL Resources is asking the state for a permit to expand the cavern to store natural gas. Several public officials, including Vermilion Parish President Nathan Granger, New Iberia Mayor Hilda Curry and Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal, added their voices to the public support for Mills bill.
“It should come up for a rehearing newt week,” said Nara Crowley, a local activist and leader of Save Lake Peigneur, Inc. “It’s because of the letters they wrote and the work Sen. Mills has done that we are at this point.” Mills says he is looking forward to a better outcome on the bill’s next hearing in the Senate. “We got 15 votes on the first time out,” Mills said. “All we need are five more. I’m cautiously optimistic.”
NEW IBERIA — Opponents of expanding the underground natural gas storage facility under Lake Peigneur asked state regulators on Wednesday to carefully review what they argue has the potential to become another disaster on the scale of the growing sinkhole in Assumption Parish.
Comments at a public hearing on the project also harkened back to 1980, when a drilling rig pushed through the top of salt mine under Lake Peigneur and opened a hole that consumed the entire water body. “This lake, this region, these resources have sacrificed enough,” state Sen. Fred Mills, R-Parks, told state Department of Natural Resources officials at the hearing. “… Protect the lake. It has suffered enough.”
Mills was joined in opposition by residents in the area, other public officials and representatives from the Sierra Club, the Louisiana Environmental Action Network and the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic. Atlanta-based AGL Resources is proposing to scour out two new salt caverns for natural gas storage at its Jefferson Island Storage & Hub Facility, expanding on the existing two storage caverns there.
AGL has pointed to a record of no problems since the facility opened in the 1990s and maintains that the proposed expansion has been carefully studied to minimize environment impacts and ensure safe operations. The proposed expansion has met strong opposition and is now beginning its second permitting attempt. The project was halted in 2006 when then-Gov. Kathleen Blanco called for an extensive environmental study of the project.
AGL responded with a lawsuit against the state that was settled in 2009 with some additional requirements, but not the environmental study that Blanco had sought. The permitting process is moving forward again at a time when there are near daily news reports about the problems created by a large sinkhole related to a failed salt cavern at Bayou Corne in Assumption Parish.
“Coastal management can stop another disaster by denying this permit,” said Save Lake Peigneur President Nara Crowley, referring to DNR’s Office of Coastal Management. Crowley and other residents cited a host of potential safety and environmental concerns and pointed to the continued bubbling at the lake.
Bubbling also was reported at Bayou Corne before the sinkhole developed there last year.
The bubbling at Lake Peigneur has been more sporadic, but Crowley said there have been 79 documented instances of bubbling at the lake in recent years, including three in the past week. AGL Managing Director of Government Affairs Richard Hyde said in interview earlier this month that testing has not identified the precise cause of the bubbling but has confirmed that “it is not coming from our wells.”
Crowley has questioned the thoroughness of testing done so far and said the critical issue is that there is currently no explanation for the bubbling.
Opponents of the project have also raised concerns about how dredging for the project could impact water quality at the scenic lake and whether the up to 3 million of gallons of water a day needed to scour out the new salt caverns might draw down groundwater to the point where salt water would push in from farther south and contaminate local wells.
“Y’all are messing with our drinking water and the places where we live,” said Iberia Parish Councilman Marty Trahan, who represents the Lake Peigneur area. AGL has maintained there would be no significant effect on water quality in the lake or in water wells. The subject of Wednesday’s public hearing was a permit for dredging work needed to bring equipment into the lake for the cavern expansion work.
AGL needs two other state permits for the project — one to scour out caverns in the salt dome and another to use the scoured caverns for natural gas storage.
A representative from the Jefferson Island Storage and Hub’s parent company AGL Resources gave a presentation Wednesday night at the onset of a public hearing in New Iberia Wednesday, but according to residents at the hearing, there was an important component missing.
What is causing the bubbling on Lake Peigneur?
“I don’t see how this agency can say this project has minimized or avoided all negative impacts without having an answer,” Lisa Jordan, supervising attorney for the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic, said. Jordan was one of two representatives from the clinic who joined more than a half dozen residents in voicing concerns regarding the company’s intent to create two additional natural gas storage caverns at the facility near Lake Peigneur.
AGL announced its plans to create the additional caverns in 2006 and residents have been fighting the process ever since. About 50 people gathered at Willow Wood Park where residents from Erath, New Iberia and Abbeville spoke up. The public hearing was held by the Department of Natural Resources Office of Coastal Management to get input on AGL’s coastal use permit application. The application is specifically for dredging, pipelines and other infrastructure needed to access the site with equipment that could be used to create the caverns.
There will be separate hearings on permits for the creation of the salt caverns and for the transformation of those caverns into natural gas storage facilities. Nara Crowley, Save Lake Peigneur Inc. president, said there have been 79 “bubbling events” at the lake since 2005.
The most recent was Wednesday afternoon. The Vermilion and Iberia Parish sheriff’s offices as well as DNR were called out this morning when residents saw the lake was still bubbling. The Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office is asking motorists to stay clear of the area until DNR and the Department of Environmental Quality assess the bubbling. Crowley said this is the first time bubbling has continued into a second day.
Residents surrounding Lake Peigneur have long questioned the bubbling, but the disaster at Bayou Corne in nearby Assumption Parish has exacerbated concerns. “In the past, when Bayou Corne residents asked about the bubbling, the answer was, ‘It’s swamp gas,’” Gloria Conlin, of Abbeville, said. “To Lake Peigneur residents, that sounds familiar.”
Residents also raised concerns regarding the amount of water from the Chicot Aquifer that would be needed to create the caverns. LAWCO regional manager Jim Brugh said the company knows of an arsenic plume within the aquifer east of his company’s wells in New Iberia. The company only recently developed a new well field west of the plume that it estimated the arsenic wouldn’t reach for 50 years. With accelerated draw down from AGL resources, Brugh said they couldn’t be so sure.
“We’re very, very concerned the plume will contaminate the wells,” he said. State Sen. Fred Mills, R-Parks, questioned the need of caverns versus the impact on coastal resources. He said natural gas storage is 16 percent higher than the five-year average while, “our coastal resources are among the most valued in the nation, yet the fastest disappearing on the planet.”
“Protect the lake,” Mills said, “she has suffered enough.”
Patrick Courrege, DNR communications director, said the comments given during last night’s public hearing will be reviewed by permit analysts who will recommend whether or not the permit should be granted. He said the department should have a decision on the permit within 15 days.
Largest man-made vortex – Lake Peigneur sinkhole disaster.
On 20 November, 1980, when the disaster took place, the Diamond Crystal Salt Company operated the Jefferson Island salt mine under the lake, while a Texaco oil rig drilled down from the surface of the lake searching for petroleum. Due to a miscalculation, the 14-inch (36 cm) drill bit entered the mine, starting a chain of events which at the time turned an almost 10-foot (3.0 m) deep freshwater lake into a salt water lake with a deep hole.
It is difficult to determine exactly what occurred, as all of the evidence was destroyed or washed away in the ensuing maelstrom. One explanation is that a miscalculation by Texaco regarding their location resulted in the drill puncturing the roof of the third level of the mine. This created an opening in the bottom of the lake. The lake then drained into the hole, expanding the size of that hole as the soil and salt were washed into the mine by the rushing water, filling the enormous caverns left by the removal of salt over the years. The resultant whirlpool sucked in the drilling platform, eleven barges, many trees and 65 acres (260,000 m2) of the surrounding terrain. So much water drained into those caverns that the flow of the Delcambre Canal that usually empties the lake into Vermilion Bay was reversed, making the canal a temporary inlet. This backflow created, for a few days, the tallest waterfall ever in the state of Louisiana, at 164 feet (50 m), as the lake refilled with salt water from the Delcambre Canal and Vermilion Bay. The water downflowing into the mine caverns displaced air which erupted as compressed air and then later as 400-foot (120 m) geysers up through the mineshafts.[4]
There were no injuries and no human lives lost. All 55 employees in the mine at the time of the accident were able to escape thanks to well-planned and rehearsed evacuation drills, while the staff of the drilling rig fled the platform before it was sucked down into the new depths of the lake, and Leonce Viator, Jr. (a local fisherman) was able to drive his small boat to the shore and get out.[4] Three dogs were reported killed, however. Days after the disaster, once the water pressure equalized, nine of the eleven sunken barges popped out of the whirlpool and refloated on the lake’s surface.
Jefferson Island is a salt dome located in Iberia Parish, in Southern Louisiana. The term “Island” is a bit of a misnomer, as Jefferson Island and its nearby neighbor Avery Island are not actually islands at all, but rather protruding salt domes which stand out from the surrounding landscape. These salt domes were formed through the slow evaporation of the ocean which once covered the area, and they are a substantial natural resource.
This island is part of a group of similar structures known collectively as the Five Islands. In addition to Avery Island, the Five Islands also include Weeks, Belle Isle, and Cote Blanche. Each of the islands sits on top of a dome of salt, and in addition to salt, the Five Islands also have rich oil and gas deposits which have been heavily exploited over the years. Because of the salt deposits present on the Five Islands, they became a fiercely defended property during the Civil War, when salt was at a premium. Avery Island, owned by the Tabasco Company, was once also used to produce cayenne peppers.
Originally, Jefferson Island was known as Orange Island. It was purchased by actor Joseph Jefferson in 1869 for the purpose of establishing a summer home, and it was ultimately named after him. Jefferson built a mansion on the site which is now on the National Register of Historic Places; the mansion today is surrounded by sprawling gardens established by John Lyle Bayless, who purchased the Island after Jefferson’s death.
A salt dome is a geologic formation caused by a phenomenon known as diapirism, in which lighter materials force their way up through denser ones. Salts and other evaporated minerals are generally lighter than the sedimentary rock which surrounds them, and as a result, salt has a tendency to well up, creating a visible bulge in the surface of the earth which is often capped with a layer of rock. Salt domes have been utilized by humans for centuries as readily available supplies of salt, since they typically contain a high concentration of halite, otherwise known as table salt.
The formation of a salt dome takes centuries. It starts with the formation of an isolated marine inlet, which slowly evaporates, concentrating the salts. Geologists believe that these inlets must be flooded and evaporated several times to reach the concentration of salt needed to create a salt dome. Once a large deposit of salts is created, sediments are deposited over the salt as the centuries progress, but the salt will continue drifting to the top, because it is less dense than the sediments around it. As a result, the salt creates a distinctive bulge, and it appears to be boring its way through the surrounding rock when viewed in cross-section.
A salt mine is an excavated area on or beneath the earth’s surface created for the purpose of extracting this sought-after mineral. This widely used crystalline mineral varies in color, and may be found in seawater or on land. It is necessary to mine salt to get to underground deposits. A salt mine has shafts for entry and exit and is typically comprised of rooms created in a checkerboard pattern. Extraction and processing includes blasting the crystals free, then crushing them several times before sending them to the surface for further processing.
Also referred to as sodium chloride, salt is a mineral with a cubic, crystalline formation. Its color ranges from grayish to transparent or frosty white to pink, depending on its purity and mineral composition of the parent rock. It is widely used for industrial applications as well as in food.
Salt is a very abundant mineral, and is most commonly found in seawater, making up 77 percent of dissolved solids there. Deposits on the earth’s surface are a result of the past evaporation of bodies of water. Salt deposits can also be found underground, in domes or veins among layers of sedimentary rock. In the latter cases, extraction requires the creation of a salt mine.
Lake Peigneur is located in the U.S. State of Louisiana 1.2 miles (1.9 km) north of Delcambre and 9.1 miles (14.6 km) west of New Iberia, near the northernmost tip of Vermilion Bay.
History
The lake was a 10-foot (3 m) deep freshwater lake popular with sportsmen until an unusual man-made disaster on November 20, 1980, changed the structure of the lake and surrounding land.[2][3][1]
Drilling disaster
On November 20, 1980, when the disaster took place, the Diamond Crystal Salt Company operated the Jefferson Island salt mine under the lake, while a Texacooil rig drilled down from the surface of the lake searching for petroleum. Due to a miscalculation, the 14-inch (36 cm) drill bit entered the mine, starting a chain of events which turned what was at the time an almost 10-foot (3.0 m) deep freshwater lake into a salt water lake with a deep hole.
It is difficult to determine exactly what occurred, as all of the evidence was destroyed or washed away in the ensuing maelstrom. One explanation is that a miscalculation by Texaco regarding their location resulted in the drill puncturing the roof of the third level of the mine. This created an opening in the bottom of the lake. The lake then drained into the hole, expanding the size of that hole as the soil and salt were washed into the mine by the rushing water, filling the enormous caverns left by the removal of salt over the years. The resultant whirlpool sucked in the drilling platform, eleven barges, many trees and 65 acres (260,000 m2) of the surrounding terrain. So much water drained into those caverns that the flow of the Delcambre Canal that usually empties the lake into Vermilion Bay was reversed, making the canal a temporary inlet. This backflow created, for a few days, the tallest waterfall ever in the state of Louisiana, at 164 feet (50 m), as the lake refilled with salt water from the Delcambre Canal and Vermilion Bay. The water downflowing into the mine caverns displaced air which erupted as compressed air and then later as 400-foot (120 m) geysers up through the mineshafts.[4]
There were no injuries and no human lives lost. All 55 employees in the mine at the time of the accident were able to escape thanks to well-planned and rehearsed evacuation drills, while the staff of the drilling rig fled the platform before it was sucked down into the new depths of the lake, and Leonce Viator, Jr. (a local fisherman) was able to drive his small boat to the shore and get out.[4] Three dogs were reported killed, however. Days after the disaster, once the water pressure equalized, nine of the eleven sunken barges popped out of the whirlpool and refloated on the lake’s surface.
Salinity
The lake had salt water after the event, not as a result of water entering the salt mine, but from the salt water from the Delcambre Canal and Vermilion Bay, which are naturally salt or brackish water. The event permanently affected the ecosystem of the lake by changing the lake from freshwater to saltwater and increasing the depth of part of the lake.
Aftermath
The drilling company, Texaco and Wilson Brothers, paid $32 million to Diamond Crystal and $12.8 million to nearby Live Oak Gardens in out-of-court settlements to compensate for the damage caused. The mine was finally closed in December 1986.[4]
WHOLE WORLD Water seeks to prove that economic, social, and environmental progress are not mutually exclusive. Developed to end the global water and sanitation crisis, WHOLE WORLD Water works to engage the hospitality and tourism industry to filter, bottle, and sell its own water, and contribute 10% of the proceeds to the WHOLE WORLD Water Fund. 100% of the proceeds will go directly to clean and safe water initiatives worldwide. We believe that everyone should have access to clean and safe water. Visit Sir Richard Branson
Any donation no matter how small assists Save the Water™ in researching articles and bringing awareness to the public of water crisis’s such as this. Your support is appreciated as the staff are volunteers and STW™ relies on your assistance to continue each day. Click here to help support Save the Water™
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OPPOSITION to fracking has been considerable, if not unanimous, in the global green community, and in Europe in particular. France and Bulgaria, countries with the largest shale-gas reserves in Europe, have already banned fracking. Protesters are blocking potential drilling sites in Poland and England. Opposition to fracking has entered popular culture with the release of “The Promised Land,” starring Matt Damon. Even the Rolling Stones have weighed in with a reference to fracking in their new single, “Doom and Gloom.”
Do the facts on fracking support this opposition?
There is no doubt that natural gas extraction does sometimes have negative consequences for the local environment in which it takes place, as does all fossil fuel extraction. And because fracking allows us to put a previously inaccessible reservoir of carbon from beneath our feet into the atmosphere, it also contributes to global climate change.
But as we assess the pros and cons, decisions should be based on existing empirical evidence and fracking should be evaluated relative to other available energy sources.
What exactly is fracking, or more formally hydraulic fracturing?
Many sandstones, limestones and shales far below ground contain natural gas, which was formed as dead organisms in the rock decomposed. This gas is released, and can be captured at the surface for our use, when the rocks in which it is trapped are drilled. To increase the flow of released gas, the rocks can be broken apart, or fractured. Early drillers sometimes detonated small explosions in the wells to increase flow. Starting in the 1940s, oil and gas drilling companies began fracking rock by pumping pressurized water into it.
Approximately one million American wells have been fracked since the 1940s. Most of these are vertical wells that tap into porous sandstone or limestone. Since the 1990s, however, gas companies have been able to harvest the gas still stuck in the original shale source. Fracking shale is accomplished by drilling horizontal wells that extend from their vertical well shafts along thin, horizontal shale layers.
This horizontal drilling has enabled engineers to inject millions of gallons of high-pressure water directly into layers of shale to create the fractures that release the gas. Chemicals added to the water dissolve minerals, kill bacteria that might plug up the well, and insert sand to prop open the fractures.
Most opponents of fracking focus on potential local environmental consequences. Some of these are specific to the new fracking technology, while others apply more generally to natural gas extraction.
The fracking cocktail includes acids, detergents and poisons that are not regulated by federal laws but can be problematic if they seep into drinking water. Fracking since the 1990s has used greater volumes of cocktail-laden water, injected at higher pressures. Methane gas can escape into the environment out of any gas well, creating the real though remote possibility of dangerous explosions. Water from all gas wells often returns to the surface containing extremely low but measurable concentrations of radioactive elements and huge concentrations of salt. This brine can be detrimental if not disposed of properly. Injection of brine into deep wells for disposal has in rare cases triggered small earthquakes.
In addition to these local effects, natural gas extraction has global environmental consequences, because the methane gas that is accessed through extraction and the carbon dioxide released during methane burning are both greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change. New fracking technologies allow for the extraction of more gas, thus contributing more to climate change than previous natural gas extraction.
As politicians in Europe and the United States consider whether, and under what conditions, fracking should be allowed, the experience of Pennsylvania is instructive. Pennsylvania has seen rapid development of the Marcellus shale, a geological formation that could contain nearly 500 trillion cubic feet of gas — enough to power all American homes for 50 years at recent rates of residential use.
Some of the local effects of drilling and fracking have gotten a lot of press but caused few problems, while others are more serious. For example, of the tens of thousands of deep injection wells in use by the energy industry across the United States, only about eight locations have experienced injection-induced earthquakes, most too weak to feel and none causing significant damage.
The Pennsylvania experience with water contamination is also instructive. In Pennsylvania, shale gas is accessed at depths of thousands of feet while drinking water is extracted from depths of only hundreds of feet. Nowhere in the state have fracking compounds injected at depth been shown to contaminate drinking water.
In one study of 200 private water wells in the fracking regions of Pennsylvania, water quality was the same before and soon after drilling in all wells except one. The only surprise from that study was that many of the wells failed drinking water regulations before drilling started. But trucking and storage accidents have spilled fracking fluids and brines, leading to contamination of water and soils that had to be cleaned up. The fact that gas companies do not always disclose the composition of all fracking and drilling compounds makes it difficult to monitor for injected chemicals in streams and groundwater.
Pennsylvania has also seen instances of methane leaking into aquifers in regions where shale-gas drilling is ongoing. Some of this gas is “drift gas” that forms naturally in deposits left behind by the last glaciation. But sometimes methane leaks out of gas wells because, in 1 to 2 percent of the wells, casings are not structurally sound. The casings can be fixed to address these minor leaks, and the risk of such methane leaks could further decrease if casings were designed specifically for each geological location.
The disposal of shale gas brine was initially addressed in Pennsylvania by allowing the industry to use municipal water treatment plants that were not equipped to handle the unhealthy components. Since new regulations in 2011, however, Pennsylvania companies now recycle 90 percent of this briny water by using it to frack more shale.
In sum, the experience of fracking in Pennsylvania has led to industry practices that mitigate the effect of drilling and fracking on the local environment.
And while the natural gas produced by fracking does add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere through leakage during gas extraction and carbon dioxide release during burning, it in fact holds a significant environmental advantage over coal mining. Shale gas emits half the carbon dioxide per unit of energy as does coal, and coal burning also emits metals such as mercury into the atmosphere that eventually settle back into our soils and waters.
Europe is currently increasing its reliance on coal while discouraging or banning fracking. If we are going to get our energy from hydrocarbons, blocking fracking while relying on coal looks like a bad trade-off for the environment.
So, should the United States and Europe encourage fracking or ban it? Short-run economic interests support fracking. In the experience of Pennsylvania, natural gas prices fall and jobs are created both directly in the gas industry and indirectly as regional and national economies benefit from lower energy costs. Europe can benefit from lessons learned in Pennsylvania, minimizing damage to the local environment.
The geopolitical shift that would result from decreasing reliance on oil, and more specifically on Russian oil and gas, is one that European politicians might not want to ignore. And if natural gas displaces coal, then fracking is good not only for the economy but also for the global environment.
But if fracked gas merely displaces efforts to develop cleaner, non-carbon, energy sources without decreasing reliance on coal, the doom and gloom of more rapid global climate change will be realized.
Susan Brantley is distinguished professor of geosciences and director of the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute at Pennsylvania State University, and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Anna Meyendorff is a faculty associate at the International Policy Center of the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, and a manager at Analysis Group.
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