La. Sinkhole 1-Year Anniv. Corporate Gov't 'Business as Usual' Grievances

Saturday marks Louisiana’s giant oil and gas industry 26-acre sinkhole Year One Anniversary, a day of outrage to be mourned at a gathering by locals who have suffered at the hands of government and the fossil fuel industry, who continue “business as usual,” according to organizers of an event and a victim who presents Grievance #1, one of nineteen such grievances.

For an entire year on Saturday, local cajuns and others in the Grand Bayou and Bayou Corne communities have been under duress caused by fossil fuel industry’s and government’s “business as usual” despite Gov. Bobby Jindal’s declared mandatory evacuation and state of emergency declared on August 3, 2012.

Those decalarations were declared only adter locals reported to officials for two months that gas was bubbling in their bayous and their homes were being shaken.

The sinkhole was 400 square feet then. Now the monster has gulped 26 acres of bayou country in Assumption Parish.

The shakings were later identified as thousands of industry man-made earthquakes.

Nineteen people adversely affected by the 1-year disaster have listed their greivances that will be presented at a gathering Saturday.

The 19th of these grievances includes:

Texas Brine has shown a lack of urgency:

•          12/02/2012 – Texas Brine has been assessed civil penalties of:                         

$10,000 for failing to install “in-home” monitors to detect possible natural gas accumulations and improve home ventilation for all slab foundations in the area.

•          12/02/2012 -   Texas Brine has been assessed civil penalties of:                                                                                         $80,000 for failing to install by Nov. 16 a protection system around the sinkhole to prevent contaminant release into nearby waterways.

•          12/02/2012 -    Texas Brine has been assessed civil penalties of:                                                               

$10,000 for failing to begin installing two new observation/vent wells by Nov. 27.

What has Texas Brine fixed?:

•          The sinkhole has grown from   200′ x 200′  to over 26 acres

•          The sinkhole depth is now 750+ ft as opposed to 143′ issued by Texas Brine on June 10, 2013.

•          The Oxy 3 cavern floor on May 18, 2013 was 96 feet from the ceiling, but has continued to drop and as of July 9, 2013, the floor is now 688 feet from the ceiling at a level of 4,088 feet.

•          They have operated CPT testing which was not approved by the Office of Conservation.

•          They have trespassed

•          Failed to communicate to the residents work being done in the community(total disregard for the people in the community)

•          They have disallowed financial assistance money to camp owners

•          They have mislead the community into believing the 3D-seismic would provide all the answers to resolving the gas rising in the sinkhole, bubbling sites, residents property and under residents slab of their homes.

•          They are flaring as much gas with 37 vent wells as they did at the beginning with 4 vent wells.

•          They installed a berm around the sinkhole in which a section has subsided and another section was washed away during a rain storm.

Texas Brine’s appraisal’s were low and questionable:

•          A member of the appraisal team, Don Guillot, is not a certified appraiser and he went around to residents telling them he would be willing to buy their property for a little more than what Texas Brine was offering.

•          Many residents found discrepancies in the appraisals

•          The appraisals were always lower than private appraisals.

•          Comparisons were poor

Texas Brine’s unfair buy out practices:

•          They have refused to break down the offer they make for a settlement.  Stating the offer covers all claims. 

•          Because of the length of the evacuation (356 days), they have used the stress, poor quality of life (living in campers, moving in with family members, etc.) and a 30 day negotiation period allowed by Federal Judge Zainey to get residents to accept offers that do not equal:

o         replacement value of their home and property

o         moving cost

o         utility connection fee’s

o         stress and mental anguish

o         business opportunity lost

•          The mediation process was just another way to pressure residents to accept an offer that didn’t address everything they were entitled to.  With a trial date set for April 14, 2014, people didn’t want to wait another year or two before getting on with their life (many elderly and with health issues, young families with small kids and the lost of quality of life)  and settled for less.

•          After mediation, negotiations have continued with some residents that submitted requests to Texas Brine.  Reminding them, Judge Zainey extended negotiation thru July 31, 2013.  Texas Brine has continued to demonstrate its unwillingness to negotiate a fair value for replacement of our homes, moving cost, utility connection fees, business lost and the mental anguish and poor quality of life they have caused.

Texas Brine has never demonstrated concern for the residents of the evacuated area. 

•          They refused financial assistance to camp owners.

•          Refused to pay owners of rental property for monthly rental loss.

•          Failed to notify residents of the community when work would be done that could disrupt traffic and keep them informed.

•          They continued to remind us at Town Hall meetings they were doing everything the Office of Conservation had instructed them.           

“Our pogram will be brief and to the point,” Saturday’s organizers said, providing the following agenda:

Master of Ceremonies and hostess: Mrs. Carla Alleman

Invocation

Pledge of Allegiance:   Led by Gen. Russel Honore’

Speeches by area residents

Health and Safety issues:   Dr. Wilma Subra

Closing remarks:  Gen. Russel Honore’

Song by resident: Mrs. Mona Dugas “Bye Bye Bayou Corne”

Questions from the media followed by land and water tours of those who wish to observe the situation close up.

“We anticipate approximately 30 to 45 minutes that you will be exposed to the Emergency Zone, but hopefully you’ll bring back a feeling of our struggle and the issues that we face,” organizers said. “Please bring lawn chairs to sit.”