Assumption Parish Police Jury reported that more than 90 "micro earthquakes" had occurred in the Bayou Corne sinkhole area overnight, calling it a "'spasmodic burst' which occurred at 1:34 am" on March 13. The report continued, "In addition, there were several observable long periods (VLP) events recorded on seismic monitor LA12.

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Note: This update is the 10th article in this Opednews series about the Bayou Corne sinkhole near Napoleonville, LA. For maps, diagrams and additional information, please see the nine previous articles in this series, listed at the end of this article. BACKGROUND: In Spring of 2012, Louisiana's Corne and Grand Bayou residents noticed strange bubbling in the bayou for many weeks, and they reported smelling burnt diesel fuel and sulfur. Then suddenly a sinkhole the size of three football fields appeared on Aug. 3, swallowing scores of 100-foot tall cypress trees. The sinkhole resulted from the failure of Texas Brine Company's abandoned underground brine cavern. The Department of Natural Resources issued a Declaration of Emergency on Aug. 6, and 150 families were evacuated.



Napoleonville, LA:

At 11:55 am local time on Wed. March 13, the Assumption Parish Police Jury reported that more than 90 "micro earthquakes" had occurred in the Bayou Corne sinkhole area overnight, calling it  a "'spasmodic burst' which occurred at 1:34 am"  on March 13. The report continued,  "In addition, there were several observable long periods (VLP) events recorded on seismic monitor LA12. Dr. Horton and Dr. Pettit are working to locate the events currently."

On March 8, the Assumption Parish Police Jury announced that "The Vertical Seismic Profile Data that has been provided to us by Texas Brine shows that Oxy Geismar Cavern #1 is closer to the outer wall of the Napoleonville Salt Dome than recently anticipated. Although Oxy Geismar Cavern #1 was previously thought to have no issues, this recent development does cause concern for Assumption Parish Officials. Oxy Geismar Cavern #1 is located 900' to the northeast of Oxy Geismar Cavern #3 (which is the failed cavern) and is estimated to be 950' from Highway 70 to  the outer wall of the Napoleonville Salt Dome."

Comparison photos:


The photos above appreared in a previous article, and compare the sinkhole in still shots from flyovers in August and January.  (Note: none of these photos shows the sinkhole at exactly the same angle. Therefore some estimation was involved in showing the relative sizes of the photos. The road and position of trees at lower left, the bases of the white cylindrical structures at the top of the photos, and the position of the pad area at right were used to line up these images with each other. Note that the pad area has undergone changes in size and shape during the last few months.)

These two most recent flyover videos were filmed on March 8 (13 and 33 seconds long):

The next community meeting had already been scheduled for Tuesday, March 19, 2013 at  6:00 pm, at the Assumption Parish Community Center in Napoleonville.

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich told a group of Bayou Corne residents on Saturday that standing up and taking legal action against the company that owns a failed salt dome cavern believed to have caused the Assumption Parish sinkhole is the only way they will find relief from the emergency. Brockovich works with Los Angeles lawyer Thomas V. Girardi who has been retained by at least 50 homeowners in the Bayou Corne community. Brockovich was played by actor Julia Roberts in the movie Erin Brockovich (2000.)

Previous articles in this series:
9. Nightmare Sinkhole Out of Control,  Cave-ins Continue at Bayou Corne (Feb. 13, 2013) at click here

8. Just Released: Wildly Bubbling Gases Near Catastrophic Louisiana Sinkhole (Jan. 22, 2013) at click here

7. Gov. Jindal Ignores Sinkhole Disaster; Activists & Scientists Demand Assistance for Traumatized Residents (Jan. 20, 2013)  at click here

6. Sudden Seismic Activity in Louisiana Bayou: Sinkhole Burps, Pad Cracks, Police Copter Arrives UPDATED (Jan. 19, 2013) at  click here

5. Bayou Sinkhole Site Update: Flammable Tap Water (Nov. 2, 2012) at click here

4. Alarming Sinkhole Continues to Cave In: Seismic Activity, Odors, Health Symptoms Reported (Oct. 30, 2012) at click here

3. Mysterious Bayou Sinkhole Continues to Cave In: Radiation, Hydrocarbons Detected (Sept. 29, 2012) at click here

2. Dangerous Levels of Radium at Corne Bayou Sinkhole (Aug. 26, 2012)  at click here

1. Does Sudden Sinkhole Portend a Nuclear-sized Explosion? (Aug. 17, 2012) at click here

Authors Website: http://www.OceanViewArts.com

Authors Bio:

Meryl Ann Butler is an artist, author, educator and OpedNews Managing Editor who has been actively engaged in utilizing the arts as stepping-stones toward joy-filled wellbeing since she was a hippie. She began writing for OpEdNews in Feb, 2004. She became a Senior Editor in August 2012 and Managing Editor in January, 2013. In June, 2015, the combined views on her articles, diaries and quick link contributions topped one million. She was particularly happy that her article about Bree Newsome removing the Confederate flag was the one that put her past the million mark.

Her art in a wide variety of media can be seen on her YouTube video, "Visionary Artist Meryl Ann Butler on Creativity and Joy" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcGs2r_66QE

A NYC native, her response to 9-11 was to pen an invitation to healing through creativity, entitled, "90-Minute Quilts: 15+ Projects You Can Stitch in an Afternoon" (Krause 2006), which is a bestseller in the craft field. The sequel, MORE 90-Minute Quilts: 20+ Quick and Easy Projects With Triangles and Squares was released in April, 2011. Her popular video, How to Stitch a Quilt in 90 Minutes with Meryl Ann Butler can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrShGOQaJQ8

She has been active in a number of international, arts-related projects as a citizen diplomat, and was arts advisor to Baltimore's CIUSSR (Center for Improving US-Soviet Relations), 1987-89. She made two trips to the former USSR in 1987 and 1988 to speak to artists, craftpeople and fashion designers on the topic of utilizing the arts as a tool for global wellbeing. She created the historical "First US-Soviet Children's Peace Quilt Exchange Project" in 1987-88, which was the first time a reciprocal quilt was given to the US from the former USSR.

Her artwork is in collections across the globe.

Meryl Ann is a founding member of The Labyrinth Society and has been building labyrinths since 1992. She publishes an annual article about the topic on OpEdNews on World Labyrinth Day, the first Saturday in May.

OpEdNews Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in "Beyond Surviving: How to Thrive in Challenging Times" at https://www.opednews.com/articles/Beyond-Surviving--How-to-by-Joan-Brunwasser-Anxiety_Appreciation_Coronavirus_Creativity-200318-988.html

Find out more about Meryl Ann's artistic life in "OEN Managing Ed, Meryl Ann Butler, Featured on the Other Side of the Byline" at https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/OEN-Managing-Ed-Meryl-Ann-in-Life_Arts-Artistic_Artists_Quilt-170917-615.html

On Feb 11, 2017, Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in Pink Power: Sister March, Norfolk, VA at http://www.opednews.com/articles/Pink-Power-Sister-March--by-Joan-Brunwasser-Pussy-Hats-170212-681.html

"Creativity and Healing: The Work of Meryl Ann Butler" by Burl Hall is at
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Creativity-and-Healing--T-by-Burl-Hall-130414-18.html

Burl and Merry Hall interviewed Meryl Ann on their BlogTalk radio show, "Envision This," at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/envision-this/2013/04/11/meryl-ann-butler-art-as-a-medicine-for-the-soul

Archived articles www.opednews.com/author/author1820.html
Older archived articles, from before May 2005 are here.