Tremors felt 45 miles away from Bayou Corne Sinkhole!

Originally posted by CajunBoy
One of the two vent wells have been shut down and will be capped. Traces of hydrogen sulfide detected in the equipment. This is no good, no good at all. I will post a link as soon as one comes up.

First methane, now something more dangerous... Hydrogen sulfide

edit on 20-11-2012 by CajunBoy because: (no reason given)

In the movie "Hellfighters" starring John Wayne and about the real life Red Adair they called a well giving off hydrogen sulfide a sour well. The stuff is actually very deadly even in fairly small concentrations. Just imagine this stuff starting to come up under houses and accumulating. They are already afraid of methane accumulation under houses, now this. WOW, just horrible news.

reply to post by happykat39


Your not lying about that. I am starting to have a real problem with one of the state representatives though. She had a fit during the home meeting last week because it was being recorded. You can go back and see for yourself in that video. Here is who she is Mrs. Karen St. Germain:

Education Attended, Louisiana State University Attended, Paralegal College

Political Experience Representative, Louisiana State House of Representatives, 2003-present

Current Legislative Committees Transportation, Highways, and Public Works, Chair

Caucuses/Non-Legislative Committees Vice Chair, Louisiana Legislative Women's Caucus Member, Acadiana Delegation Member, Democratic Caucus Member, Louisiana Rural Caucus Professional

Experience No professional information on file.

Organizations No organization membership information on file.

With her position on the Transportation, Highways, and Public Works committee with the state, that puts her directly in the middle of this with all the pipelines which would include the salt dome considering the pipelines that come out of it. She has been dodging questions left and right, hell she had a whole list of questions in her hand she never addressed.

Exposure to more then ≥700 mg of Hydrogen Sulfide will result in Death. What levels are we talking about here? Any level over 20 mg will have major Health effects. Stay away from this area its definitly not safe.

reply to post by BrieBird


If I am correct 500ppm right now

Human Data Inhalation Exposure to concentrations of about 700 mg/m 3 (500 ppm) hydrogen sulphide and above may be fatal. Respiratory failure was the most common cause of death, but a wide range of health effects have been reported following exposure to high concentrations including respiratory, neurological and cardiovascular effects [1, 2]. Neurological effects at high exposure have included nausea, headache, delirium, disturbed equilibrium, poor memory, neurobehavioral changes, olfactory paralysis, loss of consciousness, tremors and convulsions. In those surviving exposure to high concentrations some of the neurological effects may be permanent or persistent. Cardiac irregularities including arrhythmias as well as hypertension have been reported [1, 2].

This just got really serious for the people in and around that area.

Here is a link to a PDF version of the MSDS sheet on hydrogen sulfide. Unlike methane, which is mostly a suffocation threat from oxygen exclusion, hydrogen sulfide is one bad a$$ gas.

Material data Safety Sheet for Hydrogen Sulfide

They will be re-opening the well today to see if the gas still is there. If so, it is a whole new can of worms!

Ok guys, bout to head out on a trip to Bayou Corne to spend Thanksgiving. I'm hoping to get a good night shot of the mathane burnoffs!

If I am not on tomorrow, Happy Thanksgiving goes out to everyone who has been following and keeping your thoughts on our community!

reply to post by CajunBoy


Enjoy your holiday and have an extra serving of stuffing with gravy for me.

BTW - do you or BrieBird have any idea of where exactly the hydrogen sulfide is coming from. If it is just coming out of the well and they can keep it capped that isn't so bad. But if any of it is bubbling up with the methane that could become a disaster worse than the sinkhole.

reply to post by happykat39


It was coming out of the well. They detected coming out of the equipment that separated methane from all impurities. Still though, methane is bubbling up in the bayou. I wouldn't be surprised of a small amount coming out from there.

Here are a couple of important pieces of information from the MSDS I posted a link to a few posts back.

Hydrogen sulfide is dangerous to health even in very low doses if exposure is prolonged.

CajunBoy said that they were measuring levels of 500 PPM. Here is the IDLH (Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health) concentration listed in section 11 of the MSDS.

IDLH : 100 ppm

Here is the list of chronic effects on humans, again from section 11 of the MSDS.

May cause damage to the following organs: lungs, upper respiratory tract, eyes, central nervous system

Now comes the scary part if you live anywhere near where this stuff is leaking into the atmosphere. Again, a quote from section 2 of the MSDS.
Keep in mind that even at levels that are not immediately fatal hydrogen sulfide still poses long term health effects.

Gas. - COLORLESS LIQUEFIED COMPRESSED GAS WITH A ROTTEN EGG ODOR, BUT ODORLESS AT POISONOUS CONCENTRATIONS. NOTE: SENSE OF SMELL BECOMES RAPIDLY FATIGUED AND CAN NOT BE RELIED UPON TO WARN OF THE CONTINUOUS PRESENCE OF H2S.

reply to post by happykat39


Yup, that is truly scary!

"honey, do you smell that?"
"yea, I thought you farted."
"Nope. Seems to be going away though..."
🚑

It basically shuts down the nerves that send the smell signals to your brain. You never even get a chance to escape, because by then your neurological functioning is impaired. Kinda like being drunk or on drugs. A drug overdose, that is.

Honestly, this story keeps finding new ways to take a turn for the worse. I feel so bad for the folks who've been out of their homes for do long with no end in sight. 😢

I was just reminded that Bayou Lafourche was one of the original bubble sites. Well... That bayou passes in my backyard. I'm waiting for more fish to be floating along soon...

I just found this video with an upload date of today, Nov 22nd 2012.

Make of it what you will...

reply to post by happykat39


Yep, seen this on TV. Everything in the video is on point. I'm uploading a few pics of last night, got a good one of the operating vent well and the refinery facilities in Grande Bayou.

EDIT: Here ya go guys, I promised to get pics by the week is out.


Operating vent well off Hwy 70, across the road few hundred yards away is the sinkhole.


They are keeping the area around the vent well well lit. Also it looks like someone is out there monitoring it. This picture was taken the day after the H2S was detected. While in the are I did get a few whiffs of a bad odor. I am not going to go out and say it is H2S but it definitely isn't a swamp smell I caught before. Other people with me was trying to point fingers on who passed wind whenever the smell came around.

Grande Bayou refineries, less than 2 miles from the hole:

Been following this thread from day one. I don't post much because I really have nothing to add, except worry.

This whole situation just seems to be getting worse. Not fast, but slow. Too slow for MSM?

I can kinda understand why they won't pick it up. Right now we don't want to be fearmongering in the media due to the 2012

But dang, this thing seems like a bomb waiting to just blow.

Where is Jindal in all this. I haven't heard his name mentioned in a while. Or maybe I missed it ?

reply to post by crappiekat


It looks like you and I are yin and yang. happykat and crappiekat.

And yes, this thing is like watching a train wreck in super slow motion. I too have been watching it for quite some time now and it seems like there is a new and worse development every few days. Then add in that some people on this thread and others are tying it together with the B P Deepwater Horizon well disaster and the Edgar Cayce prophecy about the New Madrid fault going off (which some say could be triggered by either the B P well failure or the sinkhole collapse or both) and it starts looking absolutely biblical in proportion.

I found an update on the hydrogen sulfide problem...

It doesn't look as bad as when it was first reported.

More relevant information at the link...

SOURCE

Status of Hydrogen Sulfide in Bayou Corne Area

Prepared by Gary R. Hecox, Ph.D., Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure, Inc.

Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure, Inc. (Shaw) has reviewed existing data and is currently collecting new data to evaluate the conditions related to the hydrogen sulfide observed in the Texas Brine Relief Well #2 completed in the cap rock. At all times, protection of local residents and project staff is and will remain the top priority when making decisions and recommendations for response activities related to site conditions.

At this point in time, it appears that the hydrogen sulfide produced by Relief Well #2 was only from the cap rock and not the alluvial aquifer vent wells. While low concentrations of hydrogen sulfide have been detected at some of the bubble sites, the concentrations are well below those that would pose a human health risk. Other than Relief Well #2, all hydrogen sulfide concentrations measured are consistent with the production of hydrogen sulfide caused by decay of trees and other vegetation in a swamp environment.

edit on 22-11-2012 by happykat39 because: added info

Last night the MANY residents caught the bad odor smell. Some saying the strongest they have yet to smell. It was also accompanied by a few tremors. Will post with updates as soon as I get it.

They are trying to seal up the well which H2S was detected. THAT WILL BE THE BIGGEST FREAKIN MISTAKE! The HS2 will then have no choice and take the next path of least resistance.... the aquifer. THIS IS GETTING STUPID DOWN HERE!

Originally posted by CajunBoy
Last night the MANY residents caught the bad odor smell. Some saying the strongest they have yet to smell. It was also accompanied by a few tremors. Will post with updates as soon as I get it.

They are trying to seal up the well which H2S was detected. THAT WILL BE THE BIGGEST FREAKIN MISTAKE! The HS2 will then have no choice and take the next path of least resistance.... the aquifer. THIS IS GETTING STUPID DOWN HERE!

It seems that your post nullifies my post just before it. AGAIN!!! we get a little good news followed by a lot of bad news. Keep up the good work CajunBoy.