La. Quakes Make Sinkhole Rapidly Gulp Levee, New Action Started

Fossil fuel industry’s man-made quakes of late have intensified and damaged a levee holding Louisiana’s 26-acre chemical “sinkhole” lake to the point that a new barrier is being built in attempt to hold back the poisonous stew putting people, wildlife and communities at further risk.

A new plan had been discussed to try holding back the ever-growing sinkhole and its poisons from surrounding wetlands. Microquakes of late, however, caused the center of the Southern Berm, or levee, to sink, according to officials Thursday. 

The new plan includes rerouting Bayou Corne if conditions deteriorate further. Bayou Corne runs just south of the levee’s southern portion, forming half of a semi-circular arc of waterways south of La. 70. A little further south, Bayou Corne joins Grand Bayou, that flows south to Lake Verret. Old-timers said from the onset of the sinkhole that it would ultimately join Grand Bayou and Bayou Corne, forming a devastating new waterway in the parish.

Scientists report that one of Napoleonville Sal Dome’s underground salt dome caverns near its edge, a cavern previously operated by Texas Brine Co until it quietly, with state knowledge, quietly abandoned it, due to problems. That cavern in the salt dome was finally breached.

The breach unleashed percolating methane gas from natural deposits last year and caused the sinkhole between the Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou communities. It was first reported by community members on Aug. 3, 2012, as were two months of quakes and percolating methane gas in the bayous.

Texas Brine says that Wednesday, it began building a new barrier along the sinkhole lake’s southern due to rapid sinking under part of the levee that is holding back the monster’s poisonous contents.