The Advocate – State calls for tests at second salt cavern after tremors
By David J. Mitchell
Days after work on the Bayou Corne sinkhole halted briefly due to increasing tremors, state regulators ordered Texas Brine Co. to stop production at a second salt dome cavern near the underground cavity that failed two years ago and spawned the sinkhole that has driven hundreds of people from their property.
Louisiana Conservation Commissioner James Welsh ordered Texas Brine on Monday to perform a round of tests to ensure the integrity of the massive underground cavity, known as Oxy Geismar No. 2, and develop a plan if problems are found.
The cavern under the microscope is a little more than the length of football field away from another cavity that Texas Brine mined until a breach in the supporting salt wall set off the underground shifting that eventually led to the sinkhole in August 2012.
ABC – (Aug. 13) $48 Million Settlement OK’d in Louisiana Sinkhole
A federal judge has granted final approval of a $48.1 million class-action settlement for Louisiana residents affected by a 37-acre sinkhole that opened two years ago has been swallowing land ever since.
U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey said Wednesday there were no objections to the settlement. It will compensate 269 people who lived in the Assumption Parish community of Bayou Corne. . . .
More from the Houston Chronicle – Judge OKs $48.1M settlement regarding sinkhole
Phillips 66 is making a new gas storage salt cavern near Sweeny, Texas – good luck with that one!
(Aug. 11) Energy companies at risk of higher taxes in Louisiana
Louisiana tax assessors search salt caverns for more property taxes
” . . . The efforts of tax assessors have become particularly noteworthy. Assessors in a number of Louisiana parishes — including Ascension and St. Landry Parishes — are attempting to implement new methods to classify and value underground salt caverns used by energy companies to store natural gas and other petroleum products. “
” . . . . assessing the caverns at 15%, rather than the 10% used for land, of the fair market values of the natural underground storage facilities. . . “
Bulls Stirring on Heels of Lean Storage Data
Natural gas futures bounded higher Thursday following the release of government storage figures that were significantly less than what traders and analysts were expecting. . . .
Miss. – Big sinkhole develops on US 61 in Natchez < PHOTO (hope this is just water erosion and not anything worse!)
The Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle 