Sinkhole: H-Bomb explosion equivalent in Bayou Corne possible

Sinkhole: H-Bomb explosion equivalent in Bayou Corne possible by Deborah Dupre, August 12, 2012, Examiner
“The disaster is made all the more worrisome because the hole is believed to be close to a well containing 1.5 million barrels of liquid butane, a highly volatile liquid that turns into a highly flammable vapor upon release,” Earlier it was reported the butane-filled well is only 1500 feet from the sinkhole and it will not be emptied. A breach of that well, Assumption Parish Sheriff Mike Waguespack said, could be “catastrophic,” CNN reports. … Some residents of Louisiana’s cultural gumbo of Assumption Parish think dangers are more imminent now, despite state Department of Health & Hospitals Office of Public Health officials’ letter to parish officials about air and water testing data. “Based on their testing, it doesn’t appear that chemical exposure of site-related contaminants pose a public health risk in the immediate area of Bayou Corne,” parish officials said. … The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) had quietly permitted Texas Brine Company LLC to pump radioactive waste into its now failing cavern near the sinkhole DNR also hid documents showing that cavern may have had problems since 2010. … Local fear and frustration are exacerbated because no local is allowed in “operation/status” meetings, as in the ongoing BP oil “spill” catastrophe, and because officials have not publicly released estimated effects from the possible butane explosion, including secondary explosions of nearby fossil fuels, information urgently needed by locals, emergency responders and nearby oil and gas facilities’s workers. … USGS maps show extra movement and stress from oil and gas operations are susceptible to present pressure of a series of earthquakes west of Louisiana, each being where fracking and frack waste injection storage are ongoing. “This is extremely serious,” Kim Torres, spokeswoman for the Office of Emergency Preparedness, told ABCNews.com Friday. … The White House has remained silent about Louisiana’s most recent oil and gas disaster.