A resolution calling for an “all-out” stop to the Jefferson Island Storage & Hub expansion project by AGL Resources is up for a vote by the Iberia Parish Council this Wednesday, and if passed, will be sent to Commissioner James Welsh of the state Office of Conservation.
The Assumption Parish sinkhole catastrophe is a shining example of why an Atlanta-based company’s plans to create underground caverns for storing natural gas deep underneath Lake Peigneur in Iberia Parish must be stopped, says Nara Crowley of the Save Lake Peigneur environmental group.
“We’re hoping it passes unanimously,” says Crowley.
Lake Peigneur is situated where Iberia and Vermilion parishes meet, and the push to stop the underground expansion by AGL Resources has so far warranted the passage of a resolution by the Vermilion Parish Police Jury, as well as two letters of support from U.S. Sen. David Vitter and U.S. Rep Charles Boustany. A third letter of support, Crowley adds, is expected from Sen. Mary Landrieu, but has yet been sent to Welsh’s office.
Officials from AGL Resources and the state Department of Natural Resources have also been invited to share their thoughts Wednesday before the Iberia Parish Council votes on the resolution calling for a halt to the company's expansion plans.
“We’re just trying to stop something bad from happening here, and no matter what [AGL] says about the bubbling (at Lake Peigneur), the problem has never been studied,” Crowley tells The IND. “They can give whatever excuse they want, but it’s just not true.”
Another worry for Crowley is the possibility that the sinkhole in Assumption Parish will continue expanding, eventually impacting other natural underground salt domes like the one situated beneath Lake Peigneur.
“I’m worried this could have a domino effect, because it just keeps spreading and spreading,” Crowley says of the Assumption sinkhole. “If they can’t stop it, other caverns will become involved.”
The likelihood of a domino effect, Crowley says, was discussed Friday by LSU geologist Jeffrey Nunn, who spoke at a luncheon of the Baton Rouge Geological Society. Covering the luncheon was the Baton Rouge Advocate, which reports:
Nun told geologists Friday that one of the scientists’ worst-case fears is that the salt dome could continue to break up from its western edge and threaten other underground caverns.‘We don’t know. That’s a worst case scenario. That’s simply an expressed concern, he said in a later interview.
He noted that testing by operators on the dome have showed those other caverns have integrity. He said those tests probably settle those concerns in the short term, adding the fear is probably unlikely but more study is needed to be certain.
Click here to read the Advocate’s full coverage of Friday’s geological luncheon, and here for more on the issues facing Lake Peigneur.
MAY 17 Here's a column from James Gill, this time in the Advocate. Gill, who has jumped ship from the Picayune, writes about the absurdity of dueling polls in this post. The numbers are so wildly different, it is obvious that both sides are "cooking the books," he writes. In particular, he looks at Sen. Mary Landrieu, and how her recent actions in DC have been received by those polled. Gill's acerbic, amusing prose is a welcome addition to a paper so conservative as to be occasionally lacking in personality.
MAY 17 Blogger Tom Aswell continues delivering bombshells about the state education department and Gov. Jindal's education "reform" efforts. In this post, he reports that students in the Shreveport area have been signed up for a charter school without their knowledge or consent. Most interesting to Aswell is how this Texas-based charter (with ties to GOP types) got the personal student information it has, if the students didn't give it.
MAY 17 This post by JR Ball in the Baton Rouge Business Report is an interesting tongue-in-cheek look at recent Baton Rouge economic development efforts. Among the items he examines is the idea that gaining a Costco makes BR a "world-class city." (Really? All you need is a different brand of Sam's? MK!) This effort, and other recent ones, are all built on the taxpayer's back, with tax zones, tax incentives and tax rebates, Ball writes.
MAY 17 Blogger CB Forgotston is critical of the legislature's reliance on a revenue-estimating committee's decision to include projected tax amnesty income in this year's forecast. That's a problem, CB posts, because the deadline for these people to pay their taxes is June 30, 2014. So when do you think these people who haven't paid taxes in years are going to pay their taxes? Surely not before June 30, and that means the money won't be there for this year's budget, he argues.
MAY 17 Here's an interesting blog out of California by a Hollywood writer, attorney and academic named Brian Alan Lane. He blogs about higher ed, and was a whistle-blower in a scandal over false credentials. In this post, he takes aim at LSU's new top dog, King Alexander. It's convoluted and a little confusing, but it sure makes Alexander a lot more interesting than he was yesterday.
MAY 17 Blogger Robert Mann writes about the LSU Board's refusal to allow Dr. Fred Cerise to testify before the legislature about Gov. Jindal's plan to close down all the state's charity hospitals and dump the poor on the private system. It's hard to imagine anyone more qualified than Cerise to testify about that, so why would anyone try to prevent him doing so? Mann thinks it is because the powers that be aren't interested in hearing any truth about the plan.
MAY 17 This post on the Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle, a blog that notes developments in the Bayou Corne and Jefferson Island salt domes, talks about a proposed expansion of the salt dome storage under Lake Peigneur in Iberia Parish. Residents are working against it for several reasons, including two biggies: the sinkhole disaster in Bayou Corne and the continuing, unexplained bubbling on the surface of the Lake.
MAY 17 NOLA police arrested more people Thursday accused of either being involved in the Mother's Day shooting or hiding the suspect afterward, this Gambit story reports. The NOLA police chief said he suspects the whole thing was gang-related and throws out a challenge to the gangs: he's got informants now, he says, and he knows a lot more than the gangs want him to know. The people who live in the neighborhoods terrorized by gangs are ready to talk, he says.
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