Earth Informer has been closely watching developments from Louisiana in recent weeks since jolts began to shake homes, and the bayou in Assumption Parish began to bubble. It was blamed on a leaking gas pipe. However the situation has clearly been worsening. Governor Bobby Jindhal signed an emergency order now that a massive sinkhole developed in Assumption.
Now angry residents are demanding answers as to why the sinkhole formed and why their lives are being turned upside down by a bayou that began to bubble in the middle of the summer. Local Louisiana publication HOUMATODAY.COM published an account of a town meeting .. angry residents.. They simply want to know why the air reeks of diesel and why a football sized sinkhole of muck and mud has appeared in their once peaceful Parish.
Someone with the State Environmental Quality Department told townspeople that "the air you breathe is fine." This statement despite diesel being found in the sinkhole and residents complaining that the air was difficult to breathe.
While no official reason has been given for the sinkhole yet, the location is known: It is at the edge of an underground mountain of salt in a pocket of land owned by a Houston, Texas-based company named Texas Brine Co., LLC. Production there stopped in 2009 and the cavern has been plugged and abandoned.
Texas Brine and Louisiana officials ensured residents at the town meeting this week that studies are being done to confirm just what has caused the sinkhole and where it may go next.. Developing story to say the least.