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General News    H4'ed 4/20/13

Haunting Video Shows Trees Descending into Bayou Corne Sinkhole

By       (Page 1 of 2 pages)   4 comments, In Series: Bayou Corne Sinkhole
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This update is the 15th article in this Opednews series about the Bayou Corne sinkhole.

BACKGROUND: In Spring of 2012, Louisiana's Corne and Grand Bayou residents noticed strange bubbling in the bayou for many weeks, and they reported smelling burnt diesel fuel and sulfur. Suddenly a sinkhole the size of three football fields appeared on Aug. 3, swallowing scores of 100-foot tall cypress trees. The sinkhole resulted from the failure of Texas Brine Company's abandoned underground brine cavern. The Department of Natural Resources issued a Declaration of Emergency on Aug. 6, and 150 families were evacuated. 

For maps, diagrams and additional information, please see the fourteen previous installments in this series, listed at the end of this article.

Video shows trees disappearing into the sinkhole.
Video shows trees disappearing into the sinkhole.
(Image by Assumption Parish Police Jury)
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NAPOLEONVILLE, LA: On April 18th the Assumption Parish Police Jury blog noted that "There was a "burp" within the sinkhole this morning as well as a slough-in on the east side (of which measurements are not yet available). Water in the sinkhole continues to move, which is an indication that this event is not over."

A haunting video taken on April 18th shows trees disappearing into the Bayou Corne sinkhole. After the trees become submerged, the video captures the eerie tidal actions of the sinkhole waters that result. Click here

The sinkhole was caused by the collapse of one of Texas Brine's salt caverns that was too close to the edge of the salt dome. Salt caverns are used by industry for storage. (See additional information in previous articles in this series.) 

Bayou Corne sinkhole April 2, 2013
Bayou Corne sinkhole April 2, 2013
(Image by On Wings of Care)
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Referring to the Bayou Corne sinkhole, Marylee Orr of LEAN (Louisiana Environmental Action Network) notes that  "this is an unprecedented event, this has not happened any place else in the world."

On March 19, Orr and environmental scientist and MacArthur award-winner, Wilma Subra, of the Subra Company, were interviewed on The Think Tank with Garland Robinette on WWL AM 870 

In the interview, Subra notes that there are 30 - 40 other salt caverns in Louisiana that people unknowlngly live on top of, or adjacent to, "and we are asking the legislature to enact a requirement that (these people) be notified (of the proximity of a salt cavern.)"

Orr said that LEAN encourages people to insist upon "notification of the presence of salt caverns near properties, schools, and day care centers."  Orr continued,  "Bayou Corne as we know it, is gone, i hate to say that, their community is not the paradise they knew before, it is heartbreaking."

UPDATE April 20, 11:49 am: YouTube channel rainbeaudais has posted a sped-up version of the video of the sinking trees, compressing the over 2 minute video into about 30 seconds in order to show the process more clearly. Click here.

Current flyover videos are at http://www.youtube.com/user/assumptionla

Wilma Subra is an environmental scientist and Pres. of the Subra Company, and past Vice-Chair of the Environmental Protection Agency National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology (NACEPT). Her company provides technical assistance to citizens concerned with environmental issues, by combining technical research and evaluation. Contact Wilma Subra: subracom (at) aol.com

Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN)  http://leanweb.org  The purpose of the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) is to foster cooperation and communication between individual citizens and corporate and government organizations in an effort to assess and mend the environmental problems in Louisiana. LEAN's goal is the creation and maintenance of a cleaner and healthier environment for all of the inhabitants of this state.

Previous articles in this series:
14. Experts Called in To Tackle Bayou Sinkhole Devastation (April 12, 2013.)  click here

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Meryl Ann Butler is an artist, author, educator and OpedNews Managing Editor who has been actively engaged in utilizing the arts as stepping-stones toward joy-filled wellbeing since she was a hippie. She began writing for OpEdNews in Feb, 2004. She became a Senior Editor in August 2012 and Managing Editor in January, (more...)
 

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