Two days after celebrity human and earth rights advocate Erin Brockovich brought n..., its collapsing salt dome storage facility "sinkhole", and advised residents that law suits are the only solution, Gov. Bobby Jindal's office said he plans to visit the Bayou Corne sinkhole disaster site Wednesday and push for property buyouts for energy evacuees in the area.
This will be the oil crony governor's first visit to the disaster site.
In desperation for aid, after seven months of hardships, some of the Bayou Corne evacuees and nearby residents enduring chemicals and earthquakes related to the collpasing salt dome, brought Erin Brockovich on board to help. She toured the disaster site Saturday before a meeting with a crowded room of locals in Pierre Part that evening.
Jindal declared a State of Emergency in early August upon discovery of the giant bubbling sinkhole on August 3. He has, however, stayed clear of the state's largest disaster since the BP Gulf oil catastrophe, also under his watch.
After meeting Monday with Assumption Parish President Marty Triche and other parish leaders to discuss the status of the "sinkhole," Triche told WBRZ News 2 that the governor agreed with his department heads that a buyout was the best course of action.
Jindal's office said the governor would meet Wednesday with representatives from Texas Brine, the company leasing swampland where the sinkhole appeared in August, to push for expedited buyouts.
"He would then schedule a trip to the Bayou Corne community next week," WBRZ reported.
"It's time for Texas Brine to step up and do the right thing for the people in Bayou Corne," Jindal said in an emailed statement.
Contingency plans are in place in case "developments" continue with a second salt cavern next to the collapsed one, according to the governor's office.
Recent Department of Natural Resources surveys showed the two caverns' walls may be only 200 feet apart, much closer than originally estimated.
Jindal said no data suggests a cavern failure is happening or imminent, but they "are not taking anything for granted."
With Erin Brockovich bringing national attention this weekend to the high-risk of explosions in the area, with methane leaking over two miles square from the "sinkhole," it is speculated that it would do more harm for the governor to continue avoiding photo ops there than to be seen there.
(Photo credit: Progressive Democrats)
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Human Rights news reporter Deborah Dupré is author of the inspiring and shocking book, "Vampire of Macondo, Life, crimes and curses in south Louisiana that Powerful Forces Don't want you to know." Its 450 pages are packed with mainstream media's censored stories (and over 1000 references) about the BP-wrecked Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico that continues catastrophic human and environmental devastation.
Follow Dupré on Twitter @DeborahDupre. For interviews, email info@DeborahDupre.com.
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