US Senator David Vitter continues to try to sink the Scott Angelle campaign by claiming that the former Secretary of Natural Resources under Governor Bobby Jindal is running away from the controversail Bayou Corne Sinkhole.
In the latest round of press releases from the Vitter campaign, the US Senator calls Angelle as engaging in "negligence" during the period leading up to and foolowing the threat.
Scott Angelle is still running away from the Bayou Corne Sinkhole. Yesterday the Angelle Campaign sent out a long press release trying to defend Scott Angelle from his negligence and the fact that he quit his position as Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) five days after a Bayou Corne salt cavern turned into a massive sinkhole.In 2010 the DNR had a report showing that the sinkhole posed a threat not long before residents started experiencing earthquakes. ScottAngelle and the DNR did not disclose the failed integrity test.
The convoluted Angelle rebuttal said that Scott Angelle, whose job oversees the Office of Conservation which directly reports to the Secretary, cannot by law be involved in the Office of Conservation’s operations, but then said that they could by law be involved as long as the Office of Conservation lets them know. So which is it?Please see the below chart with 13 major news stories, some of them front page, from several months leading up to the sinkhole collapsing. The stories clearly highlight the threat and danger. Was Scott Angelle oblivious to this, or did he just not care?
Also of note: Phyllis Darensbourg, Scott Angelle’s spokeswoman in the Office of the Secretary at DNR is cited in sinkhole articles months before Scott claims to have known anything. Are we to believe that she did not talk to Angelle about Bayou Corne?
- 6-30-12 Advocate: “Phyllis Darensbourg, DNR spokeswoman…”
- 7-27-12 Advocate: “DNR spokeswoman Phyllis Darensbourg…”
The Angelle campaign also rolled out a letter from an Assumption Parish Police Jury President Marty Triche who defended Angelle this week; however, Triche was reportedly “upset” and “disturbed” with Angelle when Bayou Corne began sinking. Triche was so concerned that he told the press on July 12, 2012 that he was trying to meet with Angelle: “Triche said he has spoken to state Reps. Karen St. Germain, D-Plaquemine, and Joe Harrison, R-Houma, about meeting with DNR Secretary Scott Angelle.”{July 12, 2012 The Advocate}
Scott Angelle can’t keep running away from the sinkhole.
Here are some excerpts from a Baton Rouge Advocate story, “Officials upset by lack of salt dome info,” from August 11, 2012:
“Rep. Karen St. Germain, D-Pierre Part; Sheriff Mike Waguespack; Police Jury President Martin “Marty” Triche; and John Boudreaux, director of the parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said they were “upset” and “disturbed” to learn about those problems not directly from DNR, but in a news account Thursday….
…The parish officials said they did not know until Thursday that the Texas Brine salt cavern had failed an integrity test in late 2010, a development that may have pointed to the cavern breaching the outer wall of the massive Napoleonville Dome…
…Waguespack and Boudreaux said then-DNR Secretary Scott Angelle told them in a meeting Saturday, a day after the sinkhole appeared, that the salt cavern may well have had “problems” in 2010, but Angelle did not disclose the failed integrity test.
The test measures whether caverns, which are hollowed out of solid salt deposits forming the 1 by-3-mile dome, can hold pressure or may have some kind of leak or weakness.
Angelle resigned Wednesday without giving a reason.
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Date |
Page |
Headline |
Publication |
|
JUNE 27 2012 |
Sect B, Page 1 |
"Assumption Officials Investigating Bayou Bubbles" A variety of state and parish entities are working with industry to determine the cause of the leaking gas, parish officials said. |
Advocate |
|
JUNE 28 2012 |
Sect B, Page 5 |
"Public Meeting Called: Officials to Discuss Gas-Bubbling Repairs" Officials have said they do not know the source of the percolating gas bubbles but have speculated they could be coming from submerged oil and gas pipelines or from underground salt dome caverns that store natural gas. |
Advocate |
|
JUNE 29 2012 |
Sect B, Page 1 |
"Fears Rising on Source of Gas Leaks" DNR officials asked for patience and warned the process of pinpointing the source could take a while. |
Advocate |
|
JUNE 30 2012 |
Sect B, Page 3 |
"Pressure Test Seeks to Locate Gas Source" Phyllis Darensbourg, DNR spokeswoman, said inspectors visited seven of 17 orphan wells Friday that officials identified after checking well records. She said they did not have special Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality camera equipment to detect invisible gases venting from the capped wells. |
Advocate |
|
JULY 7 2012 |
Sect B, Page 5 |
"Tremors, Gas Bubbles Puzzle Assumption" State and parish officials have not made a connection between the tremors and the natural gas releases and are focusing on the oil and gas infrastructure in the area to pinpoint the source of the leaking gas |
Advocate |
|
JULY 12 2012 |
Sect B, Page 1 |
"Meeting Scheduled on Bayou's Bubbles" "We have all agreed to facilitate that meeting, and I think out of that meeting, it's going to be to get, you know, the DNR officials to recognize that it's just not an act-of-God situation, and they need some significant people in there to try figure out what's going on," Triche said. |
Advocate |
|
JULY 13 2012 |
Sect B, Page 1 |
"USGS: Earthquakes Were Real" On Wednesday, Assumption Parish Police Jury President Martin "Marty" Triche said he is trying to have a meeting with DNR officials and legislators to increase the agency's involvement and suggested it has taken too long for DNR to respond. |
Advocate |
|
JULY 16 2012 |
"DNR Geologist: Gas May Be Bubbling From Salt Dome" A top geologist at the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources says bubbling gas in bayous in Assumption Parish may be connected to a salt dome deep underground. |
AP |
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JULY 16 2012 |
Sect A, Page 1 |
"Residents Uneasy About Gas Bubbles***Monitoring Agency" The Louisiana Department of Natural Resources and other agencies have focused on the oil and gas infrastructure and brine operations in the area. The parish has about 680 miles of transmission lines alone, according to DNR. |
Advocate |
|
JULY 19 2012 |
Sect B, Page 3 |
"Officials Watching Assumption Bubbles" Officials with the state's Department of Environmental Quality and Department of Natural Resources have been working in the area since Saturday. DEQ is performing air monitoring, and gas samples were pulled on Tuesday. Results are pending, the release said. |
Advocate |
|
JULY 25 2012 |
Sect A, Page 1 |
"Orphan Well could be Bubbles' Source" Louisiana Department of Natural Resources officials and others have asked for patience as they check oil, gas and brine production infrastructure in the area and the integrity of nearby salt dome caverns inside the Napoleonville Dome. |
Advocate |
|
JULY 27 2012 |
Sect B, Page 1 |
"DNR Experts Say Well Not Source of Gas" DNR spokeswoman Phyllis Darensbourg said agency personnel familiar with petroleum exploration processes believe the well in question served long ago as a rig supply well, or a water well, and is not the source of the natural gas releases in the bayous. |
Advocate |
|
AUGUST 4 2012 |
Sect A, Page 1 |
"Sinkhole Forms Near Site of Bayou Bubbles" Triche gave residents a stark warning of the risks posed by the slurry area as he announced the evacuation. He reported a conference call with DNR officials revealed that the slurry area could quickly enlarge and possibly sheer off nearby wellheads, releasing harmful gases. |
Advocate |
