Tagged: Bayou Corne

Crosstex Energy LP of Dallas will reroute its 36-inch natural gas pipeline away from a sinkhole in south Louisiana.

The company tells The Advocate that the project will cost $20 million to $25 million and take about a year.

It has had to close part of the pipeline and find other natural gas supplies for its customers since the sinkhole was discovered Aug. 3 in Assumption Parish near Bayou Corne. The company says that's costing around $250,000 to $300,000 a month.

Weekly housing assistance checks for residents evacuated because of a large sinkhole in Assumption Parish will not be distributed Thursday as previously scheduled.

Hurricane Isaac hit land Tuesday night in Plaquemines Parish and the uncertainty of its aftermath led officials with Texas Brine Co. LLC of Houston to postpone the check distribution. Affected residents receive $875 each week as compensation for the inconvenience.

Isaac is expected to bring with it 50 to 70 mph winds with gusts of 85 mph on Wednesday to the parish, which is under a mandatory evacuation order.

The company believed responsible for the massive sinkhole near Bayou Corne may have to pay a fine of up to $5,000 a day if it doesn't retroactively compensate evacuated residents.

Louisiana Commissioner of Conservation James Welsh said Thursday Texas Brine Co. is required by the permit issued for a brine cavern they own in the Napoleonville salt dome to provide assistance to residents if a sinkhole develops.

The Houston-based company began providing a weekly housing check of $875 to evacuated locals last week.

State agencies say they've asked the company owning a natural gas pipeline that was bent by an expanding sinkhole in Assumption Parish for an updated risk management plan on a nearby butane storage cavern.

Crosstex Energy LP of Dallas owns a storage cavern 1,600 feet from the site of a sinkhole near Bayou Corne. The cavern houses 940,000 barrels of butane.