Louisiana residents fleeing giant sinkhole sue Houston-based company

In this Thursday, June 27, 2013 photo, Kenny Simoneaux looks out the door of the camper he is living in, in a campground in Pierre Part, La., after being displaced by the mandatory evacuation from the approximate 22-acre sinkhole in Bayou Corne. Neighbors in tiny Bayou Corne face a wrenching decision after a huge sinkhole opened up near their community: Do they stay put or should they pack up and move? The sinkhole resulted from a collapsed underground salt dome cavern about 40 miles south of Baton Rouge. After oil and natural gas came oozing up and acres of swampland liquefied into muck, the communityâs 350 residents were advised to evacuate. Texas Brine Co., the operator of the salt dome, is negotiating buyouts of residents who have not joined lawsuits against the company. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) less In this Thursday, June 27, 2013 photo, Kenny Simoneaux looks out the door of the camper he is living in, in a campground in Pierre Part, La., after being displaced by the mandatory evacuation from the ... more Photo: Gerald Herbert, STF Photo: Gerald Herbert, STF Image 1 of / 21 Caption Close Louisiana residents fleeing giant sinkhole sue Houston-based company 1 / 21 Back to Gallery

Louisiana residents who were forced to move out of their homes because of a giant, growing sinkhole have filed a federal class action lawsuit against a Houston-based company.

The suit filed Aug. 2 in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Louisiana lists 30 individuals as plaintiffs and names Texas Brine Co. and Occidental Chemical Corp. as defendants.

Texas Brine is headquartered in Houston, while New York-based Occidental Chemical is the company from which Texas Brine leased the site.

An earlier class action suit that was filed by a different set of plaintiffs Aug. 10, 2012, in the same court named only Texas Brine Co. as a defendant.

According to both groups' complaints, a sinkhole 422 feet deep and 273 feet wide appeared Aug. 3, 2012, in the wooded swamp near Bayou Corne in Assumption Parish, releasing a "foul diesel odor, collapsing trees and created salt-water slurry, which contained diesel fuel."

That same day, Assumption Parish declared a mandatory evacuation for Bayou Corne-area residents, an order which was still in effect when the second suit was filed a year later, according to the complaint.

The suit alleges that the spreading sinkhole and resulting contamination is the result of the collapse of a salt dome cavern, owned or operated by the defendants.

The defendants had used the cavern as a deposit area for naturally occurring radioactive material resulting from drilling into two salt caverns, including the one breached in the Bayou Corne area, the suit states.

In a July 25 post on its website the company said, "Over the last 11 months, Texas Brine Co. has been committed to responding to this incident and mitigating any impact to the environment while supporting a community in need and continuing efforts to understand potential risks involved with the sinkhole."

There are 90 identified "bubble sites" that are monitored weekly near the sinkhole, according to the company's July 25 post. Of those, 41 are steadily active, the company said.

Texas Brine's website describes the company as the nation's largest independent producer of brine, or salt-saturated water used in the production of chlorine and caustic soda and other industrial processes.

In a response to the first suit filed Aug. 2 of this year, Texas Brine denied nearly all of the allegations and, assuming the status of a "third-party plaintiff," named two other companies as defendants.

In its response, Texas Brine contends that drilling procedures the other companies did in the area caused or contributed to the ultimate failure of the salt dome cavern's outer wall and formation of a sinkhole.

The state of Louisiana has also sued Texas Brine in state district court for environmental damage.