Lake Peigneur
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
State of Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
1.2 miles (1.9 km) north of Delcambre
Delcambre, Louisiana
Delcambre is a town in Iberia and Vermilion parishes in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located twelve miles east of Abbeville on Louisiana Highway 14 in the Cajun Heartland of Acadiana. The Delcambre Canal, also known as Bayou Carlin, passes through the town and is home for much of the local fishing...
and 9.1 miles (14.6 km) west of New Iberia
New Iberia, Louisiana
New Iberia is a city in and the parish seat of Iberia Parish, Louisiana, United States, 30 miles southeast of Lafayette. In 1900, 6,815 people lived in New Iberia; in 1910, 7,499; and in 1940, 13,747...
, near the northernmost tip of Vermilion Bay
Vermilion Bay
Vermilion Bay is a bay in southern Louisiana in the United States.Vermilion Bay is located in southwestern Iberia Parish and southeastern Vermilion Parish...
.
History
The lake was a 10 feet (3 m) deep freshwaterFreshwater
Fresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams. Fresh water is generally characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts and...
lake popular with sportsmen until an unusual man-made disaster on November 20, 1980, changed the structure of the lake and surrounding land.
Drilling disaster
On 20 November, 1980, when the disaster took place, the Diamond Crystal Salt CompanyCargill
Cargill, Incorporated is a privately held, multinational corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Founded in 1865, it is now the largest privately held corporation in the United States in terms of revenue. If it were a public company, it would rank, as of 2011, number 13 on the Fortune 500,...
operated the Jefferson Island salt mine
Salt mine
A salt mine is a mining operation involved in the extraction of rock salt or halite from evaporite deposits.-Occurrence:Areas known for their salt mines include Kilroot near Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland ; Khewra and Warcha in Pakistan; Tuzla in Bosnia; Wieliczka and Bochnia in Poland A salt mine...
under the lake, while a Texaco
Texaco
Texaco is the name of an American oil retail brand. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owns the Havoline motor oil brand....
oil rig
Oil platform
An oil platform, also referred to as an offshore platform or, somewhat incorrectly, oil rig, is a lаrge structure with facilities to drill wells, to extract and process oil and natural gas, and to temporarily store product until it can be brought to shore for refining and marketing...
drilled down from the surface of the lake searching for petroleum
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
. Due to a miscalculation, the 14 inches (35.6 cm) drill bit entered the mine, starting a chain of events which turned what was at the time an almost 10 feet (3 m) deep freshwater lake into a salt water lake with a deep hole.
It is difficult to determine exactly what occurred, as all of the evidence was destroyed or washed away in the ensuing maelstrom
Maelstrom
A maelstrom is a very powerful whirlpool; a large, swirling body of water. A free vortex, it has considerable downdraft. The power of tidal whirlpools tends to be exaggerated by laymen. There are virtually no stories of large ships ever being sucked into a maelstrom, although smaller craft are in...
. One explanation is that a miscalculation by Texaco regarding their location resulted in the drill puncturing the roof of the third level of the mine. This created an opening in the bottom of the lake. The lake then drained into the hole, expanding the size of that hole as the soil and salt were washed into the mine by the rushing water, filling the enormous caverns left by the removal of salt over the years. The resultant whirlpool
Whirlpool
A whirlpool is a swirling body of water usually produced by ocean tides. The vast majority of whirlpools are not very powerful. More powerful ones are more properly termed maelstroms. Vortex is the proper term for any whirlpool that has a downdraft...
sucked in the drilling platform, eleven barges, many trees and 65 acres (263,045.9 m²) of the surrounding terrain. So much water drained into those caverns that the flow of the Delcambre Canal
Delcambre Canal
The Delcambre Canal, also known as Bayou Carlin, runs from Lake Peigneur in Louisiana to Vermilion Bay near Weeks Island. It serves to connect the shrimping center of Delcambre to the Gulf of Mexico. It also has a spur connection to Avery Island and crosses the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway...
that usually empties the lake into Vermilion Bay
Vermilion Bay
Vermilion Bay is a bay in southern Louisiana in the United States.Vermilion Bay is located in southwestern Iberia Parish and southeastern Vermilion Parish...
was reversed, making the canal a temporary inlet. This backflow created, for a few days, the tallest waterfall ever in the state of Louisiana, at 164 feet (50 m), as the lake refilled with salt water from the Delcambre Canal
Delcambre Canal
The Delcambre Canal, also known as Bayou Carlin, runs from Lake Peigneur in Louisiana to Vermilion Bay near Weeks Island. It serves to connect the shrimping center of Delcambre to the Gulf of Mexico. It also has a spur connection to Avery Island and crosses the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway...
and Vermilion Bay
Vermilion Bay
Vermilion Bay is a bay in southern Louisiana in the United States.Vermilion Bay is located in southwestern Iberia Parish and southeastern Vermilion Parish...
. The water downflowing into the mine caverns displaced air which erupted as compressed air and then later as 400 feet (121.9 m) geyser
Geyser
A geyser is a spring characterized by intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accompanied by a vapour phase . The word geyser comes from Geysir, the name of an erupting spring at Haukadalur, Iceland; that name, in turn, comes from the Icelandic verb geysa, "to gush", the verb...
s up through the mineshafts.
There were no injuries and no human lives lost. All 55 employees in the mine at the time of the accident were able to escape thanks to well-planned and rehearsed evacuation drills, while the staff of the drilling rig fled the platform before it was sucked down into the new depths of the lake, and Leonce Viator, Jr. (a local fisherman) was able to drive his small boat to the shore and get out. Three dogs were reported killed, however. Days after the disaster, once the water pressure equalized, nine of the eleven sunken barge
Barge
A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...
s popped out of the whirlpool and refloated on the lake's surface.
Salinity
The lake had salt water after the event, not as a result of water entering the salt mine, but from the salt water from the Delcambre Canal and Vermilion Bay, which are naturally salt or brackish water. The event permanently affected the ecosystemEcosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
of the lake by changing the lake from freshwater to saltwater and increasing the depth of part of the lake.
Aftermath
The drilling company, Texaco and Wilson Brothers, paid $United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
32 million to Diamond Crystal and $12.8 million to nearby Live Oak Gardens in out-of-court settlements to compensate for the damage caused. The mine was finally closed in December 1986.
Since 1994 AGL Resources
AGL Resources
AGL Resources, Inc. is a Fortune 1000, Forbes 2000 energy services holding company. Their principal business is distribution of natural gas in Florida, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, Tennessee and Virginia, providing gas for more than 2.2 million customers....
has been using Lake Peigneur’s underlying salt dome
Salt dome
A salt dome is a type of structural dome formed when a thick bed of evaporite minerals found at depth intrudes vertically into surrounding rock strata, forming a diapir....
as a Storage and Hub facility for pressurized natural gas.
There is currently concern from local residents to the safety of storing the gas under the lake and nearby drilling operations.