In the early morning hours of August 3, 2012, and after months of continuous tremors, and ‘bubbling sites’ of ‘swamp gas’, a portion of earth subsided and created what many locals just call, “The Stinkhole” in Bayou Corne, Louisiana operated by Texas Brine, LLC, and leased by and for the usage of the Occidental Chemical Corporation, dubbed in official records as Oxy 3 brine well.
For months on end residents complained of earthquakes and methane seeps in the swamps, and were told neither existed by the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, and USGS. Stubborn residents insisted differently, which spurred an investigation of the ‘bubble sites’ by the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, and the Department of Environmental Quality, as well as Dr. Stephen Horton of Memphis State University to investigate and confirm resident’s suspicions of earthquakes.
This is by far, not the first incident in this area, known as the Napoleonville Salt Dome, with the Magnolia Operating Facility contained within, and dominated by huge corporate interests, such as Occidental Chemical Corporation, Dow Chemical, Entergy/Koch Bros., Crosstex, Exxon-Mobil, K/D/S Promix, and a bevy of other big names in the pipeline, storage, and production of natural gas, and the drilling of oil and natural gas found in the oil sands surrounding the salt dome.
What many do not realize is that Occidental Chemicals acquired Hooker Chemical, and indeed the ruptured cavern ‘Oxy 3’ was once named ‘Hooker 3’. This is important because neither Hooker Chemical, nor Occidental are strangers to controversy or being entangled in the total destruction of entire communities and shown a total indifference towards the environment and the residential concerns of toxic health effects.
“Ending a 16-year legal case that became synonymous with toxic pollution, the Clinton administration announced Thursday that Occidental Chemical Corp. has agreed to pay $129 million to the federal government for its cost of cleaning up the Love Canal neighborhood near Niagara Falls.”
“For 11 years, beginning in 1942, Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corp., which Occidental purchased in 1968, poured about 20,000 tons of hazardous chemicals into the abandoned canal in upstate New York. Hooker sold its property for $1 in 1953 to the Niagara Falls school board.”
Source: http://articles.latimes.com/1995-12-22/news/mn-16926_1_love-canal
