BAYOU CORNE, LA (WAFB) -
Issues continue to pile on crews working on the growing sinkhole in Assumption Parish.
Texas Brine, the company that owns a failed salt cavern blamed for the sinkhole says it will comply with new orders.
Texas Brine continues clean up Monday, but is limited to skimming as boats will not be allowed in the sinkhole due to the activity of removing hydrocarbons from the cavern. This is for the safety of workers as the removal of the hydrocarbons may cause pressure changes that could affect the sinkhole.
The current size of the sinkhole is just under four acres.
State officials are ordering further testing along with monitoring and removal of natural gas trapped underground.
Residents are still evacuated; they left their homes in early August.
Below is a summary of the directives that Texas Brine was ordered
to perform in DNR's Third Amendment to the Declaration of Emergency
& Directives (issued on 10/11/2012).
On or before Tuesday, October 16, 2012:
- Texas Brine must provide Dept. of Conservation with a plan for
installing and monitoring additional Geoprobe wells to monitor water
quality/ pressures in the Bayou Corne community; install & monitor
permanent elevation benchmark at each Geoprobe well location by a professional licensed surveyor;
- Texas Brine must provide Dept. of Conservation with a plan to
install a continuous pressure monitor on Oxy Geismar #3- to monitor
pressure and provide for telemetry monitoring of this pressure. This
telemetry shall be reported in real time to the Assumption OEP , the
Assumption Parish Sheriff's Office, and the Office of Conservation to
notify them if any rapid pressure changes that indicate changing
conditions in the cavern;
On or before Friday, October 19, 2012:
- Texas Brine must provide Dept. of Conservation with a plan to
install a permanent continuous water level monitoring station near the
edge of the sinkhole. This station shall include a sensor and recording
system for monitoring and recording the water levels and a staff gauge
for visual observation of water elevation or depth. The data from this
station shall be downloaded weekly and forwarded to Dept. of
Conservation on a weekly basis;
- Texas Brine must provide Dept. of Conservation with a plan to
evaluate the alluvial aquifer water production, groundwater flow,
sinkhole chlorides, TDS (Total Dissolved Salinity) and hydrocarbon
migration and to mitigate adverse impacts to aquifer sustainability from
use of Texas Brine Company LLC's water wells;
On or before Thursday, October 25, 2012:
- Texas Brine must provide Dept. of Conservation with a plan to
implement a seismic monitoring and notification system to allow for real
time data processing and interpretation of micro-seismic data. The
current array should be expanded as necessary to assess the current
stability of the collapse zone. The seismic data shall be reported in
real time to the Assumption OEP , the Assumption Parish Sheriff's
Office, and the Office of Conservation to notify them of sudden changes
in the cavern or surrounding the sinkhole;
- Texas Brine must begin installing the groundwater observation/vent
well in the vicinity of the core-hole where the ten-feet of gas in the
aquifer was observed;
On or before Tuesday, November 13, 2012:
- Texas Brine must provide Dept. of Conservation with a plan to
collect, interpret, and report geophysical data that will determine the
nature and extent of the collapse structure from the base of the
original cavern to the ground surface. This geophysical data may include
(but not is limited to) vertical seismic profiling, cross-hole seismic
and tomography, and 3D seismic.
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