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the region’s air. They were shocked to learn that displaced residents may
not be able to go home until the middle of 2013.
In addition, the extent to which homes have been rendered
uninhabitable by methane is still not known. The Advocate is reporting
that local Police Jury President Martin “Marty” Triche urged Texas Brine
Co. to consider buyouts for the beleaguered homeowners as he criticized
the handling of methane venting from the collapsed cavern. An
environmental expert working with the state said “that not only slabfoundation
homes are at risk from methane gas rising from underground
sources, but also some homes elevated on piers. He said a recent review
by an indoor toxicology expert Shaw Environmental has hired indicated
that residences and mobile homes on piers, in which the crawl spaces
beneath the floors are enclosed, may be at more risk than slab-foundation
homes from gas accumulation.”
State officials who ignored warnings nearly two years ago that there
were serious potential problems with the Texas Brine Co. cavern are now
racing to penalize the company — in a serious case of too little and too
late:
The Louisiana Office of Conservation has levied an
additional $160,000 fine against Texas Brine Co. LLC. over a
massive sinkhole.
Commissioner James Welsh said the fine levied Dec. 17 is
for continued failure to comply with his directives for an 8-acre
sinkhole and oil and methane releases in northern Assumption
Parish.
Welsh fined the Houston company $80,000 for failing to
install a containment system around the brine-filled, oil-tinged
sinkhole near Bayou Corne, and another $80,000 for failing to
install in-home methane monitors and home ventilation systems
in slab foundation structures in the area.
The Advocate reports the new fines come in addition to
$100,000 in fines Welsh issued on Dec. 1 and bring total
company fines in relation to the sinkhole response to $260,000.