Texas Brine officials say 40 days for answers

Officials at a Houston-based brine company told residents of a rural Louisiana town that it will be at least 40 days before they get definitive answers about an enormous sinkhole that opened up in Assumption Parish.

Mark Cartwright, president of Texas Brine Co., said Friday the company spent the last week "intensely focused" on an emergency response as they try to figure out the cause behind a sinkhole near Bayou Corne.

Cartwright says they'll be drilling a relief well to investigate a brine cavern they own housed within the Napoleonville salt dome, and it will take at least 40 days to drill the well. Scientists speculate the 372-foot wide and 422-foot deep sinkhole might be related to structural problems within the salt dome.