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Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2015

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  • Emily
    replied
    Re: Officials investigate bayou gas bubbles (and earthquakes) in Assumption Parish, Louisiana

    Assumption Parish Press Release #7
    Gas Bubbles in the Bayou Corne/Grand Bayou Areas

    Friday, July 20, 2012
    4:00 p.m.
    For Immediate Release
    [snip]
    The 62nd Civil Support Team of The National Guard is performing additional gas analyses from companies with natural gas sources.

    Leave a comment:


  • Emily
    replied
    Re: Officials investigate bayou gas bubbles (and earthquakes) in Assumption Parish, Louisiana

    Bayou Corne residents anxious after letter from Assumption Parish
    Posted: Jul 15, 2012 9:53 PM by Olivia LaBorde
    Updated: Jul 15, 2012 9:53 PM
    BELLE CHASE- People who live near the mysterious bubbles on Bayou Corne received letters from Assumption Parish leaders Sunday.

    The letters requested homeowners for permission for the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to come onto their properties in order to take reading of the air.
    [snip]
    Hernandez claims her recently bloodshot eyes are a result of whatever it is coming from the bubbles. But parish officials say that's probably not the case.

    "I would say that's something else. Methane gas isn't causing that. It's not toxic. There wouldn't be those symptoms," said Boudreaux...
    One of the local residents said he has been smelling benzene while boating on the bayou. (I'm trying to find the source again.)

    http://www.ela-iet.com/DraftFaultpap...n022604NEW.pdf
    The above case demonstrates that natural gas and associated distillate containing benzene, toluene, ethybenzene, and xylenes are likely to migrate upward, not only along leaking well casing, but also along fault structures that are penetrated by wells from depths at least 6,000 feet below surface, which, in this case, is some 3,000 feet below the probable source of radionuclides. The presence of natural gas would be expected in selected areas underlain by shallow, permeable fault zones that may provide pathways for escaping natural gas composed of methane, associated gases, and associated distillates containing dissolved benzene and other natural hydrocarbons. Natural gas analyses obtained from sampling the ground water and headspace above in a M.U.D. water well in north Houston?s FM1960 area are shown in Table 1.

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  • Emily
    replied
    Re: Officials investigate bayou gas bubbles (and earthquakes) in Assumption Parish, Louisiana

    Seismometers are picking up an average of 10 tremors a day:

    Could earthquakes be the cause of bubbling bayou?

    Homeland Security's Boudreaux says the constant activities are unusual and he's been patrolling the bayous twice a day. Still no cause and this is the first time I've seen the gasses described as not being flammable.

    Tests have revealed the gas is not flammable, suggesting it is not a hydrocarbon or natural gas leak, Boudreaux said.
    I thought they were flammable and mostly methane, but just in such a low concentration that they were not a safety hazard currently. Also, the article says a couple of gas companies are shutting pipelines down in the area to see if that helps, even though they can't detect leaks in other ways. There is a salt dome cavern still being looked at.

    There's also been a gas pipeline explosion about 60-70 miles west of Bayou Corne:

    Intracoastal City Natural Gas Pipeline Explosion

    I saw no reports of prior tremors or other unusual activity in that area, but it might be something to keep an eye on and see what explanation the company that owns the pipeline comes up with.

    Name of Well Owner Released

    Leave a comment:


  • Emily
    replied
    Re: Officials investigate bayou gas bubbles in Assumption Parish, Louisiana

    Homeland Security and USGS are encouraging residents to report any new bubbling and tremors.

    Officials watching Assumption bubbles

    River Parishes bureau

    July 19, 2012
    0 Comments

    BAYOU CORNE ? Officials in Assumption Parish keep monitoring gas bubbles in the waterways in the Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou areas, but still don?t know where the gas is coming from...

    Leave a comment:


  • Emily
    replied
    Re: Officials investigate bayou gas bubbles in Assumption Parish, Louisiana

    This is something relatively new going on south of the affected area:
    ETA: I think I was wrong about the location of the 2010 blowout and new drilling. See this article.

    5 March 2010
    ggpl.com.au/operationsnapoleonville.html

    Of the three wells mentioned there, one is productive, one was shutdown for reasons I could not find, and one resulted in this in August 2010:
    <object width="420" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/A1g64Q1kcPI?version=3&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/A1g64Q1kcPI?version=3&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="420" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

    Assumption Parish has a web page devoted to the current troubles here and they provided a link to a paper the LA DNR provided to them:

    Effects of Earthquakes, Fault Movements, and Subsidence on the South Louisiana Landscape

    The whole text is there and it is very interesting. It discusses "Soda Straw Theory."
    The soda straw theory is attractive because it provides a villain and the promise of a possible reduction in rate of subsidence. However, there are several problems with this theory. Unlike the Goose Creek Field, most production from the coastal oil fields is from relatively deep - 2,000 to 15,000 feet and greater - higher pressure deposits where the fluids removed through wells are replaced by salt water and may, thereby, not create accommodation space.
    The page on the drilling being done in Assumption Parish says:
    The first three wells are targeting a total of 9.2 BCF of gas and 1.6 MMBO of oil at shallow depths from 5,000 feet to 10,000 feet with over half the targeted potential classified as low risk proven undeveloped reserves (PUD?s).
    So from that I'd guess that the drilling, if done properly with replacement fluids, shouldn't be a problem.
    Last edited by Emily; October 30, 2012, 04:04 PM. Reason: Added ETA regarding blowout location

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  • Pathfinder
    replied
    Re: Officials investigate bayou gas bubbles in Assumption Parish, Louisiana

    Residents uneasy about gas bubbles

    Monitoring agencies look for explanation

    BY DAVID J. MITCHELL
    River Parishes bureau
    July 16, 2012
    ...

    Researchers hope that by pinpointing the location of the small quakes ? some were recorded by a USGS station in White Castle ? they may be able to say if the quakes are linked to the gas releases. The first monitor set up detected seismic activity on Friday, parish officials said, though possibly not big enough to be felt.
    ...
    Madhurendu Kumar, director of DNR?s Geological Oil and Gas Division in the Office of Conservation, raised a new prospect during a community meeting Thursday. Gas stored in pockets of a fault along the Napoleonville

    Dome could be being released naturally, he said.

    Bayou Corne is about a mile from the northwestern edge of the salt dome.

    Deep muds containing natural gas were drawn up as the salt dome was pushed to the surface in geologic history, Kumar said. The muds are closer to the surface now and tied into a system of fractures that can release gas intermittently, he said.

    ?So that is the situation. So we are investigating all the possibilities,? Kumar said.

    Full text:

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  • Pathfinder
    replied
    Re: Officials investigate bayou gas bubbles in Assumption Parish, Louisiana

    Louisiana

    Seismicity Map - 1973 to Present



    Leave a comment:


  • Pathfinder
    replied
    Re: Officials investigate bayou gas bubbles in Assumption Parish, Louisiana

    USGS: Earthquakes were real

    By David Mitchell
    River Parishes bureau
    July 13, 2012

    BAYOU CORNE ? U.S. Geological Survey seismological recordings from a station near the northern Assumption Parish community of Bayou Corne show a series of earthquakes occurred on June 8 and July 3, a University of Memphis researcher said Thursday.

    Stephen Horton, a research scientist with the university?s Center for Earthquake Research and Information, said about a dozen seismic events have been detected from generally, though not exactly, the same area. The USGS station picking up the quakes is in White Castle, about five miles from Bayou Corne.
    ...
    His statement is the first formal indication that seismo-meters have recorded what residents in the area have said they have been feeling for more than a month: tremors putting out candles, knocking pictures askew and cracking slabs and wallboard.

    Horton said he set up on Thursday the first of four seismic stations in the area to try to pinpoint where the quakes are coming from and how deep they are in the ground.

    ?And by associating that with whatever is down there, then we can hopefully come to some conclusion about what is the cause,? he said
    ...
    The quakes have appeared to coincide with the accelerated release of natural gas from the surfaces of Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou.

    Full text:

    Leave a comment:


  • Emily
    replied
    Re: Officials investigate bayou gas bubbles in Assumption Parish, Louisiana

    Meeting today and USGS should be there.

    http://theadvocate.com/news/3323921-...bayous-bubbles
    Meeting scheduled on bayous? ?bubbles?
    BY DAVID J. MITCHELL
    River Parishes bureau
    July 12, 2012
    [snip]
    Achee, who said he owns land in the area but lives elsewhere, has set up a Facebook page that has become a community forum on the situation. He said he has called a variety of agencies to find an answer.

    ?Try to put yourself in their shoes, man. I couldn?t go to sleep at night,? Achee said.

    ?From the research I?ve done, I couldn?t live there. I mean I totally sympathize with the people, and that?s why I am doing what I?m doing,? he said.
    Concerns are that the process is taking so long, and that while gas concentrations are being monitored for explosive potential, there is no monitoring for health effect levels. They've observed various levels of bubbling for decades. (One resulted in a 2 month evacuation. This was in the early 2000's, after the deregulation during the 1990's mentioned in the previous post.

    This video reports numerous cancers and infertility in local residents.

    <object width="420" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_CDIS6lcIno?version=3&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_CDIS6lcIno?version=3&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="420" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

    Leave a comment:


  • Emily
    replied
    Re: Officials investigate bayou gas bubbles in Assumption Parish, Louisiana

    A BRIEF HISTORY OF SALT CAVERN USE
    R.L. Thoms and R.M. Gehle
    AGM, INC.
    P.O. Box 10358, College Station, Texas, U.S.A.
    [snip]
    Natural gas caverns, with deep cycling of
    pressure, place more demands on the host
    salt formation than liquid caverns.
    Salt
    caverns designed for natural gas storage
    started small, and have gradually increased
    in size. Maximum permitted volumes of gas
    caverns in Germany started at 350,000 m3
    (2.201 MM bbls), were increased to 500,000
    m3 (3.145 MM bbls), and for the past ten
    years have been 700,000 m3 (4.403 MM bbls)
    [53]. Cavern volumes are not regulated so
    specifically in the U.S.
    A natural gas cavern
    with volume of approximately 15.6 MM bbls
    (2,480,000 m3) and span of 350 ft (107 m) is
    now under construction in the Napoleonville
    dome in south Louisiana
    [54]..
    Deregulation at the national level in 1994:

    REGULATORY, TECHNICAL PRESSURES PROMPT MORE U.S. SALT-CAVERN GAS STORAGE
    09/12/1994

    Thomas F. Barron
    PB KBB Inc.
    Houston

    Natural gas storage in U.S. salt caverns is meeting the need for flexible, high delivery and injection storage following implementation Nov. 1, 1993, of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Order 636.

    This ruling has opened the U.S. underground natural gas storage market to more participants and created a demand for a variety of storage previously provided by pipelines as part of their bundled sales services.

    Many of these new services such as "no notice" and supply balancing center on use of high delivery natural gas storage from salt caverns. Unlike reservoir storage, nothing restricts flow in a cavern...

    Leave a comment:


  • Pathfinder
    replied
    Re: Officials investigate bayou gas bubbles in Assumption Parish, Louisiana


    Bayou Corne/Grand Bayou Bubbling

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/assumpt...7630330363084/

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/assumpt...7630330363084/



    Efforts intensify to find gas leaks in Assumption waterways

    BY DAVID J. MITCHELL

    River Parishes bureau
    July 10, 2012
    ...
    Joseph ?Joe? Ball Jr., director of DNR?s Injection and Mining Division, said a prior gas leak that sparked a two-month evacuation of residents in the vicinity starting in late 2003 was from a source authorities knew about, a salt dome cavern that leaked the gas.

    ?This is totally different. There is no known source right now, so it?s going to be a process of elimination of looking at possible sources, and that?s what we?re working on right now,? ...
    Ball noted the underground salt dome caverns inspected so far have tested ?tight? and do not appear to have problems.
    ...
    Also emerging from the steamy meeting Thursday were reports of earth tremors that rattled homes and cracked residential concrete slabs.

    ?I want to know what?s shaking my house. That?s what I want to know,? Debra Charlet, 54, of Bayou Corne, told gathered officials at one point.

    Ball did not dispute reports of a June 8 tremor but said U.S. Geological Survey seismic monitors did not detect the tremors.
    ...
    He said officials do not know the cause, however, whether the tremors are connected to natural gas leaks ? which have expanded in number since the May 30 report ? or are from natural subsidence common in the area.

    Ball noted Louisiana?s earthquake of greatest magnitude occurred in the area in 1930.

    In a later interview, Charlet, who said she is from California, said the June 8 tremor felt similar to the larger quakes in her former home state.
    ...

    Full text:

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  • Louisiana: Assumption Parish Bayou Corne Sinkhole 2012-2015

    Mystery bubbles in the bayou
    POSTED: Thursday, June 28, 2012 - 10:10pm
    UPDATED: Friday, June 29, 2012 - 11:06am
    Bayou Corne, La. (NBC33) — There's a bubbling brew coming up from the bayou. Denis Landry first spotted the bubbles on Bayou Corne in Assumption Parish back on May 30th, when he reported it to officials.

    "My wife and I took a boat ride down Bayou Corne and noticed more bubbling than usual," said Landry.

    Residents said the bubbles grew larger and became more frequent, some even report that they've felt their homes shake from the activity.

    "My mobile home is shaking a lot," said Wallace Cavalier. "All time of day and night, it wakes me up and it scares me."
    ...
    Sheet rock and foundation cracks reported in this article.


    Officials investigate bayou gas bubbles

    The Advocate
    River Parishes bureau

    July 05, 2012
    4 Comments

    GRAND BAYOU — Assumption Parish authorities on Tuesday were investigating the source of natural gas that is bubbling up from water in parish bayous but say it poses no risk of igniting and catching fire.

    Assumption Parish emergency officials do not know the origin of the gas bubbles, which have been spotted in the Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou areas, but have determined the bubbles are natural gas and not due to “swamp gas,” a parish news release says.

    John Boudreaux, director of the Assumption Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said the gas emissions contain methane, ethane and propane, which is an indication it is likely from oil and a gas exploration.

    The swampy area has underwater pipelines and salt dome caverns used for natural gas storage....
    Assumption Parish Bayou Corne/Grand Bayou Bubbling 2012
    Last edited by Emily; January 13, 2015, 03:57 AM. Reason: Title update
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