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C&E hosts meeting for Sulphur Mines Salt Dome Community

Agency staff discuss progress in emergency response and explains path forward

Contact: Patrick Courreges, 225-342-0510

 SULPHUR, La. – The Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy (C&E) met with members of the community Thursday evening to provide updates on the status of response to the ongoing declaration of emergency regarding the west side of the Sulphur Mines Salt Dome.

C&E and the Governor’s Office each made a declaration of emergency in September 2023 in response to concerns about the future stability of a salt cavern on the western side of the Sulphur Mines Salt Dome in Calcasieu Parish. While no immediate signs of collapse or major surface impact have manifested, C&E still considers the emergency declaration to be appropriate to exercise emergency powers and expedite the efforts to protect people and the environment.

C&E’s primary concern is focused on the brine cavern known as PPG-7, a cavern on the west side of the salt dome, operated by Westlake US 2 LLC. The core issue is that the PPG-7 cavern is unable to maintain a stable pressure without constant pumping of salt water into it, creating a mechanical stability concern due to its close proximity to the edge of the salt dome. The nearby PPG-6 cavern, also operated by Westlake, is also being closely monitored due to its proximity to PPG-7.

“Our staff has done a lot of work since that time to understand what is going on deep underground and provide protections for the public, such as a groundwater monitoring array and the recently completed protective berm around both the salt dome surface operations and the area to the west of the dome that will likely be impacted,” said C&E Secretary Dustin Davidson. “We have worked to maintain transparency with the public in the area through a web page dedicated to the response and responding to questions as they come in, but I believe it was time for local officials and the people they represent to get a chance to meet our staff face-to-face again to talk about their concerns.”

“I appreciate the efforts the department has put forth in trying to stay ahead of the situation, taking action to protect our community, and providing information to help us keep up with what conditions are on the salt dome,” Mayor of Sulphur Mike Danahay said. “Even more so, I know that our community appreciates the opportunity to meet and speak with C&E in our own space to provide an opportunity for direct dialogue on our concerns.”

The two caverns of concern were originally drilled as brine mining wells to supply salt water for petrochemical processes in the mid-1950s, decades prior to the establishment of the state’s Underground Injection Control (UIC) program.

In 1979, the U.S. Department of Energy took over the caverns for Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) oil storage until the mid-1990s when they were transferred back to a private company, PPG Industries (now Westlake Chemical). Brine mining was reported as having ended for both caverns by 2014, after which both have remained in inactive status.

C&E’s Office of Permitting and Compliance is overseeing the response, coordinating as necessary with the GOHSEP, Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinators Office (LOSCO), state Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ), state Department of Health (LDH) and the U.S. EPA Region 6 office. The agency has also brought in LSU and Tetra Tech for groundwater modeling, as well as the contractor Agapito Associates for salt cavern expertise.

Next steps include the completion of geomechanical modeling to best predict what will happen to the caverns under various scenarios, further groundwater modeling, and installation of pump facilities around the protective berm.

For an update on the ongoing investigation, and reporting and monitoring, please visit our homepage at www.dce.louisiana.gov or the dedicated Sulphur Mines response page at https://www.denr.louisiana.gov/page/sm-1homepage.