Cargill shuts down massive salt mine under Lake Erie & Cleveland, OH after roof problem detected

[Emily]

http://www.wksu.org/news/story/36588

Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Cargill expects Lake Erie salt mine shutdown will last at least a week
Engineers and geologists are deep under Lake Erie trying to track what structural damage there may be
by WKSU's M.L. SCHULTZE <table width="100%"><tbody><tr><td align="left" valign="top">LISTEN: Reason for shutdownOther options:

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The recording is of a man describing flood losses and saying he is planning on moving. ETA: I don't think the recording is related to the mine problem. It seems to be a snippet from reporting on unrelated flooding from heavy rains earlier in the month.

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2013/08/cargill_salt.html

Cargill stops mining salt under Lake Erie out of safety concerns
By Peter Krouse, The Plain Dealer

on August 21, 2013 at 9:34 AM, updated August 22, 2013 at 7:08 AM
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cargill salt mine below Lake Erie has stopped mining because of concerns that the roof 1,800 feet below ground could collapse.

 

[Emily]

Re: Cargill shuts down massive salt mine under Lake Erie & Cleveland, OH after roof problem detected

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2013/08/more_on_salt.html

Cleveland salt mine safety concerns likely not a serious problem, geologists predict, but one never knows for sure
Peter Krouse, The Plain Dealer By Peter Krouse, The Plain Dealer

on August 26, 2013 at 1:17 PM, updated August 26, 2013 at 3:31 PM
...
In 1994, two rooms in a salt mine more than 1,000 feet below the Genesee Valley collapsed, causing aquifers several hundred feet above to drain into the 18-square-mile mine, completely filling it within about a year.

Perhaps more dramatically, two sinkholes on the surface developed about a month after the collapse.

It's still unclear what caused the collapse of the mine, owned by Akzo Nobel and once the largest salt mine in the world, said Bill Kappel, a hydrogeologist with the United States Geological Survey in Ithaca, N.Y....

I thought the cause of that collapse WAS clear:

http://www.dec.ny.gov/hearings/10946.html

The objective of the mine design is to avoid sudden collapse and flooding, and to plan for gradual trough subsidence. From a regulatory standpoint, this objective minimizes the likelihood of damage to surface property, and a potential for brine contamination of overlying ground or surface waters.

Experience shows that this objective was achieved for almost a century using a large pillar design at Akzo's nearby Retsof mine. However, after the pillar design in a part of the Retsof mine was modified to use "yielding pillars" in an area that was too wide to be supported by the overlying rock, a collapse occurred. That event is discussed below.

http://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/10/nyregion/wanted-a-new-salt-mine-one-industry-town-presses-for-state-aid.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

Wanted: A New Salt Mine;One-Industry Town Presses for State Aid
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: December 10, 1995
...
For several years Mrs. Jacobs had challenged Akzo Nobel's ash storage proposal. Although it could have provided the company with additional income, she contended it would have threatened the local environment. She held up snapshots of hate messages directed at the Jacobses spray-painted on the rock-salt walls of the mine.

Mr. Jacobs, who calculated that his family had put in 338 years of work at the Retsof mine, proudly displayed a copy of a letter from his wife, published in a local newspaper on Dec. 21, 1993, three months before the collapse, that constituted the only printed prediction that a catastrophe loomed.

"Why are they creating unsafe conditions and endangering their own miners' lives by 'pillar robbing,' the salt supports that stabilize underground rooms?" the letter read.

A friend and local newspaper columnist, Howard Russell, chimed in, saying, "When she warned everybody about the danger, they said she was a crackpot. When her warnings came true, they said she was a witch."

Mrs. Jacobs said that fear of losing jobs has given Akzo Nobel a stranglehold on the community. "Sometimes," she said, "I feel like I'm living in the United States of Akzo, not the United States of America."..

Akzo was also mining the Cleveland salt mine before the sale to Cargill and had at least asked for a variance from federal mine safety standards for the mine!

Volume 61, Number 216, Page 57458-57461
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Mine Safety and Health Administration

Petitions for Modification
The following parties have filed petitions to modify the application of mandatory safety standards under section 101(c) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977.

25. Akzo Salt, Inc. [Docket No. M-96-02-M] Azko Salt, Inc., P.O. Box 6920, Cleveland, Ohio 44101 has filed a petition to modify the application of 30 CFR 57.19109 to its Cleveland Mine (I.D. No. 33-01994) located in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. The petitioner requests a modification of the standard to allow regular inspections of the production lined-shaft prior to all maintenance assignments instead of providing additional overhead protection, regarding Citation No. 4546277 of January 29, 1996. The petitioner asserts that the proposed alternative method would provide at least the same measure of protection as would the mandatory standard.

 

[Emily]

Re: Cargill shuts down massive salt mine under Lake Erie & Cleveland, OH after roof problem detected

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/08/cargill_gradually_resuming_ope.html

Cargill gradually resuming operations at salt mine
Peter Krouse, The Plain Dealer By Peter Krouse, The Plain Dealer
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on August 29, 2013 at 9:40 AM, updated August 29, 2013 at 3:07 PM

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cargill will gradually resume operations at a Lake Erie salt mine that was closed 10 days ago amid worries the roof could collapse.

The company has determined that the "area of concern is isolated and that we can take measures to address the situation," spokesman Mark Klein said in an email.
...
Klein said later in a telephone interview that the company believes the cause of the convergence is "a geological break" above the mine. In other words, he said, a plate-layer of stone likely cracked, forcing pressure downward.

He said the company is bringing in equipment from Tennessee to drill into the rock above the mine to gather additional information...

 

[Emily]

Re: Cargill shuts down massive salt mine under Lake Erie & Cleveland, OH after roof problem detected

http://www.nasdaq.com/article/cargill-temporarily-shuts-down-ohio-salt-mine-says-rand-logistics-20130916-00544

Cargill Temporarily Shuts Down Ohio Salt Mine, Says Rand Logistics
By RTT News, September 16, 2013, 09:02:00 AM EDT
...
Scott Bravener President of Lower Lakes commented, "Cargill does not believe that the geological shift impacts the long term viability of the mine and they expect to resume full production by November 2013. However, they have informed us that as a result of the production loss due to this event, our tonnage carried for them this navigation season will be negatively impacted by as much as 43%...
Read more: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/cargi...s-rand-logistics-20130916-00544#ixzz2g4V9FHl9

Rand Logistics is the biggest freight shipper in the Great Lakes region.