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Originally posted by qmantoo
10pm CDT - More serious problems at LA11, LA14 on the helicorder Those who understand these things please look. What is the large block at the top of LA14 etc?
helicorder 12-hour chart LA11
IRIS 24 hour chart
helicorder 12 hour chart LA14
IRIS for LA14 seems to be offline or broken link or something.
LA12 echoes the same thing but a little less
Originally posted by qmantoo
What happens when that well-head goes into the sinkhole?
There are already cracks and fissures in the ground (over to the right of the pic) which are near to the edge of the water. I guess there is nothing they can do about this, but I bet they have some information about what is likely to happen when it does. Any speculations from us?
I am going off to find an image of how they drill and what they line the hole with and whether it will provide another way for the water to enter the cavern if this well-head goes under and sinks. I know that air has to get out of the pipe before water can go down, so initially it will just bubble as the air/gas comes out and the water goes down. That is after the pipe to the left breaks due to the ground sinking away.
How many other well-heads have been engulfed by the sinkhole?.
A second shallow aquifer relief well, ORW 12, was completed this past
week on the Texas Brine site and began flaring natural gas. This second
relief well was installed on the southwest corner of the work area next to the
sinkhole. However, on Friday this well plugged off and stopped venting.
Possible future use and work-over plans for this relief well will be evaluated
along with other activities as this work area and the sinkhole are monitored
as mentioned above in item #5. The other relief well on site, which was
installed in late October, has continued to vent natural gas. For the last 24
hour period, the flow rate was measured at approximately 17,000 cubic feet.
ORW-33 Unable to access, road flooded, Work continues on new berm road by ORW #9, removing water from ORW#1 and planning to attempt work on ORW#2 Tuesday or Wednesday
Fugro, a leading data collection and interpretation company, has been retained to perform an electromagnetic (EM) survey of the MRAA in the Bayou Corne community in order to map the shallow subsurface. The EM survey was performed on 5/4/2013; A review of
preliminary and partial results from data processing done to-date was held on 05/14/2013, with
final results still pending.
Work on building the well pad for this well, G-01, next to OG 2 wellhead location
is complete; Pile driving of 20” surface casing was completed on 5/15/2013 to a depth of 280’; The drill rig has begun to arrive on site 5/15/2013 and is expected to be erected and beginning operation late this week.
Depressurization of OG 3A is currently on hold..... OG 3A had a wireline depth survey performed 5/10/2013 and a sample of the fill material from inside the cavern was collected and will be sent for testing. As of the 5/10/2013 depth survey there is approximately 102’ of unfilled cavern remaining.
Residential Air Monitoring
Sage has been requested to suspend bimonthly residential air monitoring. Therefore,
Sage will discontinue these activities. The last event was conducted on March 26, 2013.
Simply put, it was a trade off between revenue and safety. Money won.
It wasn't just mechanical failures and human errors, it was organizational failings caused by a company culture that didn't make safety paramount, didn't train its responders and dispatchers, didn't encourage safe operations and didn't provide communication training or tools for its employees. The system was loaded with opportunities for failure.
Here's a number that speaks for itself: More than 700 errors were made by operators using incorrect temperature and pressure correction factors in their cacluations at the salt dome over a 270-day period.
NTSB investigators dug deep in pursuit of making sure that the same mistakes weren't made over and over again. They recommended greater safety controls after pointing out that there were no federal regulations governing salt domes and no requirements given by state government.
That government indifference was part of the problem. It took five years, but finally the U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration issued an advisory to operators of gas and hazardous liquid underground storage facilities: Henceforth, they were were required to create design guidelines and operation guidelines for salt domes, efforts that long ago should have been made mandatory.
The lessons learned by the industry that day live on, at least for the NTSB which still points to it as a way to learn about bad corporate culture and what happens when safety is an afterthought.
Though investigations got to the bottom of what went wrong and top management was made to publicly admit they mismanaged that site, and even though millions of dollars were paid out in settlements to those impacted by negligence, the explosion that shook Wesley and swallowed three lives can never be fully explained away.
An industry that produces the most revenue in Texas and brings in among the largest bonuses for its leaders should have been more accountable. Instead, they jotted down the 'lessons learned' and moved on down the road.
Today, there is no big memorial service like there was on the one-year anniversary. Nothing on the local newspaper's website about it. Those who survived and those who lost loved ones 20 years ago today grieve and remember in their own way, as it should be.
The primary route of exposure is inhalation
and the gas is rapidly absorbed by the lungs.
Absorption through the skin is minimal.
People can smell the “rotten egg” odor of
hydrogen sulfide at low concentrations in air.
However, with continuous low-level expo-
sure, or at high concentrations, a person
loses his/her ability to smell the gas even
though it is still present (olfactory fatigue).
This can happen very rapidly and at high
concentrations, the ability to smell the gas
can be lost instantaneously. Therefore, DO
NOT rely on your sense of smell to indicate
the continuing presence of hydrogen sulfide
or to warn of hazardous concentrations.
Health effects of H2S exposure Hydrogen sulfide is both an irritant and a
chemical asphyxiant with effects on both oxygen utilization and the central nervous
system. Its health effects can vary depending on the level and duration of exposure.
Repeated exposure can result in health effects occurring at levels that were previously toler-
ated without any effect. Low concentrations irritate the eyes, nose,
throat and respiratory system (e.g., burning/tearing of eyes, cough, shortness of breath).
Asthmatics may experience breathing difficulties. The effects can be delayed for several
hours, or sometimes several days, when working in low-level concentrations. Repeated
or prolonged exposures may cause eye inflammation, headache, fatigue, irritability,
insomnia, digestive disturbances and weight loss.
Originally posted by qmantoo
All 3 LA10 helicorder plots are mostly blank for most of the morning today. Maybe they are doing some work there. There are spots where it comes back and then goes again.
The cavern is supposed to be filling up fast, so I wonder what effect that will have on the helicorders down there because the properties of the surrounding area will possibly affect the recordings. I mean air would be different from rock I guess.
Citing a lack of cooperation from the company he says is responsible for the nearly 1-year-old Assumption Parish sinkhole, the governor ordered an immediate review Monday of all its salt-brine caverns.
...
Texas Brine officials promised to buyout residents who were forced to evacuate their homes, but it hasn’t followed through on those promises, Gov. Bobby Jindal said in a Monday afternoon news conference held in Belle Rose.
“It has become clear that Texas Brine is trying to run out the clock on the citizens of Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou by hiding behind insurance companies, lawyers and lobbyists,” Jindal said in a news release. “That is unacceptable. Texas Brine is responsible for the sinkhole, and they need to clean up the mess they’ve made and do right by the people of Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou by issuing long overdue settlement offers.”
Texas Brine blames the settlement delays on its insurance carrier, according to a letter signed by Bruce Martin vice president of operations. He says there’s no time line on when the offers will be made.
Jindal issued the Executive Order in regard to the company whose salt mine collapsed into a massive sinkhole last year, noting that the review would determine if Texas Brine was financially fit.
Any news on this from anyone who lives there please?
I am really curious to see new pictures or read any updates from the area. The major players (Texas Brine, LA DNR, etc) seem to have clammed up.
Originally posted by qmantoo
Any news on this from anyone who lives there please?
I am really curious to see new pictures or read any updates from the area. The major players (Texas Brine, LA DNR, etc) seem to have clammed up.