Louisiana's giant sinkhole swallowed an access ramp to a well pad and more trees Thursday morning, causing officials responding to the disaster site to move it up to a Code 2 alert and pull workers off of the site.
Assumption Parish leaders said Thursday that seismic monitors picked up fluid and gas moving beneath the surface.
A well pad collapsed and the ramp to it was engulfed into the 'lake-like' area that has been called a sinkhole.
The alert status for the Oxy 3 well was raised to Code 2, requiring all work directly in and over the sinkhole to cease until further notice.
Assumption Parish leaders say "the seismic activity is limited to the Oxy 3/sinkhole area, showing no indication of impact to the Oxy 1 area. The slough-in that consumed the ramp and the trees was on the southeastern side of the sinkhole."
The Department of Natural Resources said in its inspection report about the latest gulping down of Cajun land between Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou:
Remarks regarding the #3 Well Pad on the eastern edge of the sinkhole according to Bret Barras: “the Slough Off looks to be 60′ in depth and 90′ in length along the Northwest to Northeast side of the Oxy #3 Well Pad. The work pad extension where the excavator worked from to remove sink hole debris is completely gone. The green 8″ pipe marker at the
beginning of the work pad is gone. Approximately 15′ of the #3 Well Pad has sloughed off. This is referencing where the green 8″ pipe was located.
The disastrous oil and gas event became observable in June 2012 and is gradually drawing Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou into the collapsing area, forming a lake.
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