Jindal to meet with sinkhole victims today

Gov. Bobby Jindal announced this morning plans to visit with some Bayou Corne residents affected by the sinkhole in Assumption Parish later today. Jindal says he will also meet with parish officials and brief the media this afternoon on the discussions. Today’s visit comes as the sinkhole has grown to over 12 acres in size and residents begin the process of negotiating property buyouts with Houston-based Texas Brine. Scientists say the sinkhole formed after the collapse of an underground salt cavern operated by Texas Brine, which extracted brine and piped it to nearby petrochemical facilities. The cavern failure released oil and natural gas from formations along the salt dome face. A salt dome is a large, naturally occurring underground salt deposit. About 350 people living in the area have been under an evacuation order, and many of them have been displaced for more than seven months, with no end in sight. Texas Brine officials say they began to contact residents Monday to discuss buyouts and settlement offers for the 150 homes affected. Officials also said Monday that they are now monitoring the threat that another area nearby the sinkhole could liquefy into muck. “We are in a very serious situation,” Assumption Parish Police Jury President Marty Triche told lawmakers on Monday, saying that tightened regulations were needed to monitor the caverns and to hold companies liable if those caverns fail. More on Monday’s update to lawmakers on the sinkhole situation can be found here.