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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Massive Louisiana sinkhole caused by oil industry just keeps on growing
By John Upton
The oil sheen-coated sinkhole, photographed over the weekend by nonprofit On Wings of Care.On Wings of CareThe oil-sheen-coated sinkhole, photographed over the weekend by nonprofit On Wings of Care.
A sinkhole triggered in Louisiana by the fossil fuel industry grew to 12 acres over the weekend, and it appears that hundreds of displaced nearby residents will never be able to return to their homes.
The sinkhole has been growing since it appeared in August. It was caused by a salt mining operation that sucked brine out from beneath the Assumption Parish marsh and piped it to nearby petrochemical facilities. Houston-based Texas Brine had apparently excavated too close to the surface, and officials are worried that a similar fate could befall another Texas Brine salt mining site nearby.
Salt is used by the oil industry to stabilize the earth around drilled wells. Emptied salt domes are also used to store oil, gas, and other petrochemicals.
Natural gas is belching out of the sinkhole and the waters that have filled it are covered with a rainbow slick of oil. Officials are burning the gas as it escapes to try to prevent an explosion.
From the Daily Comet:
About 350 people living in the area have been under an evacuation order and many of them displaced for more than seven months, with no end in sight. Texas Brine officials said they were beginning to contact residents Monday to discuss buyouts and settlement offers for the 150 homes.
After months of silence on the issue, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) recently began discussing it at press conferences, and last night he met privately with affected residents. From The Times-Picayune:
Jindal, who met with the residents of Bayou Corne in a closed-door meeting around 2 p.m., … re-emphasized Texas Brine Co. LLC will be offering voluntary buyouts to locals looking to move on with their lives.
“Texas Brine is responsible for the sinkhole. We’ve been committed to holding them accountable. After months of discussions, after meeting with them last week, the company has finally agreed to start this process,” Jindal said.
The sinkhole has triggered fresh concerns about the practice of salt mining in Louisiana, where similar accidents have happened in the past. Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal recounted a 1980 accident for KATC:
November 20, 1980 is a day Sheriff Louis Ackal will never forget. He was Captain of Louisiana State Police Troop-I when a miscalculation sent an oil rig’s drill directly into the salt mine instead of under the lake, collapsing the Jefferson Salt Mine.
“There was just swirls of mud, giant oak trees were being sucked down like a hand pulling them into the mud,” said Ackal.
Ackal is worried a similar accident could play out at another salt-mine project in the state, where AGL Resources wants to expand natural-gas storage caverns under Lake Peigneur:
Ackal is urging Governor Bobby Jindal to intervene. He wants proof the dome is safe, and wants answers to why bubbling happens sporadically.
“Whatever monies it is paying the State of Louisiana to use that dome is not worth a damn penny of it if it’s going to endanger the lives and property of the people that live out there,” said Ackal.
Maybe one day the gas and oil industry will learn from past mistakes. But not today.
This video shows the Assumption Parish sinkhole and surrounding homes. It was filmed from a light airplane over the weekend by nonprofit On Wings of Care:
John Upton is a science aficionado and green news junkie who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.
Read more: Climate & Energy
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Last edited by untanglingwebs on Fri Mar 22, 2013 1:31 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Fri Mar 22, 2013 1:21 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Hazardous Waste Deep Injection Well in Romulus
As humans have produced more and more waste, an issue of growing importance has been where to dispose of it. One method of disposing of hazardous waste has been the deep injection well. The are approximately 4,500 feet deep and about 96 million gallons of hazardous waste can be injected into them a year. There are currently 172 of these deep injection wells in the United States, with a new one being proposed for Romulus, Michigan. The Romulus well would be Michigan's ninth.
There are many hazards associated with these wells. Twenty-two out of the 172 wells in America have leaked or suffered holes and workers were unable to detect substantial leakage from holes in well casing in six other situations. Greenpeace has stated that "in at least 2 states, deep well injection of hazardous wastes has been linked to multiple earthquakes, caused by elevated pressures and reduced friction over large areas...Injected wastes have entered groundwater through cracks, fissures, and abandoned oil and gas wells in the U.S."
The environmental organization Romulus Environmentalists Care About People (RECAP) has lead the opposition to the injection well in Romulus. This group makes many statements about the detrimental effect the well would have on the city. Among other things, the group claims the well would contain 96 million gallons of hazardous waste a year that would be serviced by 19,200 trucks. Not only American hazardous waste, but also Canadian would be stored there and Canadians would own 20% of the well. The EPA and Michigan Department of Natural Resources would not have the funds or the manpower to regulate it such a commercial facility. The lack of regulations may allow the well to grow out of control. The well would be located less than 500 yards from a residential neighborhood. The group also states the facility would attract other waste facilities to Romulus and cause reduced property values. RECAP also cited the failure of a similar injection well in Vickery, Ohio, in which owners recently paid out 30 million dollars worth of claims to property owners within a five mile radius of the well. There have been numerous other documented failures of injection wells throughout the country.
In June of 1994, Romulans voted on whether or not to levy one mil to set up an environmental protection fund which would thwart any efforts to locate a hazardous waste injection well within the city. The proposal lost 2,000 votes to 929. Residents did not want the injection well, but they did not want to pay the mil for protecting against it either. As the environmental justice movement grows in the next few years, residents such as those in Romulus will have to decide between the negative side-effects of the lack of regard for the environment by industry and the costs of fixing or preventing these problems.
Source: Melissa Marra. "Downriver Digest." July/August 1994. |
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Fri Mar 22, 2013 1:24 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Michigan
All classes of wells (I-V) can be found in Michigan.
There are 30 Class I wells (9 hazardous and 21 non-hazardous), 1,460 Class II wells, 46 Class III wells (5 Sites), and 8,934 Class V wells in Michigan.
There are spent-brine return flow wells or 5X16 wells in Michigan. These wells are used to re-inject spent brine into the same formation from which it was withdrawn after extraction of halogens or their salts. Michigan is the only state where these wells are known.
In Michigan, there are three companies that use Class III wells. These three companies inject into the Salina Group which has an average thickness of 900 to 2000 feet. The well inventory chart lists the number of active Class III wells and sites. The map below shows geographic locations of the Class III facilities in Michigan. Morton Salt uses Class III wells as part of their salt mining operation in Manistee County.
Mosaic uses Class III wells as part of their potassium mining operation in Osceola County.
Cargill uses Class III wells as part of their salt mining operation in St. Clair County.
Class IV wells are banned unless part of an EPA approved cleanup.
The Region 5 EPA UIC program is responsible for regulating all wells in this state. |
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Fri Mar 22, 2013 1:32 pm |
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