Enormous Sinkhole Opens in Louisiana Bayou
B. McPherson
Ordinary people are out of their homes and businesses are shut down. Who is responsible? Where is the radiation coming from? It the butane storage compromised?
Grand Bayou, Louisiana is home to a brand new salty, murky
lake. No one wants to take responsibility for the enormous sinkhole that has
swallowed 100 foot long cypress trees. Bubbles have marred the surface of the
bayou since May, but no answers came from the environmental investigations.
Now there is diesel floating on the surface of the salty
water. Natural gas pipelines cross this area, but the gas companies have had
divers checking the pipes since bubbles were reported and they were intact.
Eyes have now turned to the Texas Brine Company which mines brine from a large
underground salt dome. They use the sodium chloride for industrial purposes.
The brine company has been ordered to drill an exploratory well to see if their
brine claim has been compromised. Their estimate of time it will take – 40 days.
Sounds a bit Biblical.
The hole which has not grown since Saturday, is currently
372 feet across and 422 feet deep.
It is emanating low levels of radiation, but ‘experts’ have
told the locals that there is nothing to worry about with low levels of
radiation. As a precaution, about 150 people have had to evacuate homes and
businesses. The operators of the gas pipelines have been asked to depressurize
the lines after one was twisted in the mystery hole.
Residents are expressing their lack of confidence in the
state authorities and have been left apprehensive of natural gas explosions ever
since an incident in 2003 which saw people evacuated from an area close to natural
gas storage in a salt dome. The gas was escaping and bubbling into the water
wells. Chevron currently uses three salt dome formations to store nearly 13
billion cubic feet of gas, at least one of which is filled with liquid butane.
Most homeowners have no control over industrial operations
that take place under ground. Industrial operations have been blamed for ground
shaking and sinkholes forming.
“Residents have also
been reporting earthquakes but despite a battery of tests conducted by federal,
parish and local officials, no one has been able to figure out the source of
the tremors.
Randy Rousseau, who
lives in Grand Bayou and owns a body shop in Belle Rose, said he's noticed
tremors for years. He eventually moved out of his house because he didn't feel
safe and has been unable to sell it because the property value plummeted after
several small sinkholes opened up in his yard.” Daily Mail UK
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