NM city prepares to fall 200 to 500 feet

I'll let you read the story for yourselves but it is true a big part of an town could fall into a sink hole cause by oil drilling

CARLSBAD, N.M. – The bright yellow signs on U.S. 285 are the first indication that things aren't right in Carlsbad.

"US 285 south subject to sinkhole 1,000 feet ahead," motorists are warned.

But there is little other evidence that in southeastern New Mexico's oil country, a giant cavern sits beneath the earth, ready to swallow part of the highway and possibly a church, several businesses and a trailer park.

The cavern was formed over three decades as oil field service companies pumped fresh water into a salt layer more than 400 feet below the surface and extracted several million barrels of brine to help with drilling. State regulators flagged it as a potential danger after concluding that it was similar to two wells northwest of Carlsbad that collapsed without warning last year.

Officials have set up a monitoring system that takes readings from tilt meters and pressure sensors every two seconds and averages them to determine whether there are changes drastic enough to trigger alarms. The alarms are expected to give authorities several hours to evacuate people in advance of a cave-in that could span anywhere from 200 to 500 feet, Griswold said.

200 to 500 feet deep not across now that's a deep hole

Story here


[edit on 6-11-2009 by DaddyBare]

I REALLY wouldn't want to have to travel that road frequently. Or worse, live in close proximity.

If the drillers pumped water in to create the void, maybe sand (or?) could be pumped in to fill it.

reply to post by DaddyBare


Interesting story.

I've seen plenty of sinkholes but never something that could fall that far, even at 200 feet.

Quiet a few sinkholes have formed in my hometown and surrounding area due to illegal coal mining over a century.

Homes and road ways have collapsed because of them. Dangerous stuff; it's good to see they have some sort of early warning system in place.

Originally posted by Scalded Frog
I REALLY wouldn't want to have to travel that road frequently. Or worse, live in close proximity.

If the drillers pumped water in to create the void, maybe sand (or?) could be pumped in to fill it.

They should make the company that pumped it all out pay to get some fill pumped back in. Of course they can't do that, and if there is a solution it'll be left up to the Army Corps of Engineers to do it and the taxpayer to pay the bill.

reply to post by SpacePunk


Just need to bring out a blender and a frac crew to fill the hole with sand... shouldn't take more than a year, maybe two??? keep the pressure down so you dont end up hydrofracking and your golden

[edit on 6-11-2009 by DaddyBare]

UH-OH SPAGETTIOH'S!!

I live over in Las Cruces, so this is pretty close to home. I believe they are having a lot of these type of problems in parts of Texas. There are definately a lot of caves and caverns around there. I have been inside Carlsbad caverns a few times, that is one massive cave system!

Note to self, don't live near any oil or gas wells.

Darn interesting story.

I wonder if a natural disaster like heavy rain or flooding could collapse the section even quicker than anyone anticipates.


13 Sinkholes

reply to post by downtown436

I'm over here in Kirtland. I too may take a jaunt over there and see whats happening.

They are going to wait for warnings from meters before they tell people to evacuate?
Excuse me if I dont really rely on technology that much with my life, but wouldnt it be in the peoples best interest(now that they found out) to get out of that area now rather than waiting for it to happen while you are watching the new episode of American Idol>? Or is it just me ?

reply to post by Violater1


Just wanted to give you fair warning... if you go down there and catch a whiff of rotten eggs... get of there...fast...

I used to work the oil patch, from there down to Midland Odessa... lot of sour gas wells in that region... H2S Hydrogen sulfide, smells like rotten eggs. if the concentration is high enough one breath will kill you!!!

Not kidding there were times we drive pass a well that had burped some of that gas and you'd see dead cows lying around the well head. A good tell if its a sour well is they sometimes have a flare tower way up high... Hydrogen sulfide is very flammable and they burn it off if they can...

This morning I found another story, different side...

Eugene Irby is the owner of the company that ran the well site.

Irby said Monday, "It's kinda what we call the Chicken Little syndrome. All of a sudden they are running around with their heads cut off." He thinks the oil conservation district, which issued the warning about a possible collapse, is just over-reacting because of the other brine hole sinkholes in the area last year.

"The problem with our Carlsbad well, is they had us plug it, so there is no way to do any scientific study on it," Irby said.

Irby says nobody can really know how big the underground well is.

TV interview with well owner

Of course he would say it's no big deal. if he admitted a problem he might be held liable for damages and relocation... that's just business... but you think as a human he's be just as concerned and want more testing, just to be safe...

UPDATE

State wants company to pay for cavern that could collapse

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - The state of New Mexico has spent more than a half-million dollars investigating and monitoring a giant cavern in southeastern New Mexico, and now it wants the company responsible for the property to pay up.

State officials say the extraction of millions of barrels of brine from a salt layer deep underground has resulted in the cavern in Carlsbad.

The state Oil Conservation Division is monitoring the site, hoping to detect the earliest signs of a cave-in that could possibly take with it part of a highway, a church, a trailer park and an irrigation canal.

The agency has sent a letter to I&W Inc., demanding reimbursement of $563,420, as well as a plan for assuming responsibility for the now-shuttered brine well operation.

I&W did not return calls seeking comment.

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