BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) –
Three legislative committees gathered at the State Capitol to hear from affected parties regarding the giant Louisiana sinkhole in Assumption Parish Tuesday.
Representative Karen St. Germain, whose district includes the sinkhole, read four letters into the record from residents who have been displaced since August of last year.
Assumption Parish officials, followed by Department of Natural Resources, Environmental Quality, along with CB&I and Texas-Brine will testified Monday morning.
Senator Gerald Long, who chairs Natural Resources, says his committee will initiate an investigation into the matter.
The main sinkhole has reached more than 800 feet in diameter and the western wall continues to collapse.
Last week, officials reported about 5,000 square feet fell in on the southwest side of the sinkhole, officials call this sloughing.
Bayou Corne residents push for home buyout
On the 200th day of their mandatory evacuation, Assumption Parish residents asked legislators for help Tuesday in convincing Texas Brine Co. LLC to buy homes impacted by an 8.6-acre sinkhole.
Bayou Corne homeowner Candy Blanchard said she will never again feel safe in the house she built six years ago.
“Texas Brine has taught me more about purgatory and limbo, and I went to Catholic school, than the nuns could,” Blanchard said.
In response, legislators pressed Texas Brine officials for their position on buyouts. The company said it is in conversations with its insurance carrier.
The Louisiana House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment met jointly with the Senate committees on natural resources and environmental quality to hear from officials and the public about an ongoing saga that started unfolding with a May 30 phone call about a natural gas leak in Bayou Corne.
The committees will hold a second public hearing on March 18 at the State Capitol.
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