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Liberty Co. sinkhole may yield more trouble

05:25 PM CDT on Wednesday, May 21, 2008

By Leigh Frillici / 11 News

DAISETTA, Texas -- Volunteer firefighter Lynn Fregia is speaking out about what happened on the day part of Daisetta collapsed into a sinkhole in Liberty County.

Trouble related to the sinkhole

He said salt water shot out of the ground and killed trees, grass and  pasture land.

A number of witnesses tell 11 News that the ordeal started the same day as the sinkhole.

On day two  of the sinkhole disaster, Mayor Lynn Wells didn’t know just how much he would be affected.  As it turned out, the dried up piece of land is his property.

Geologist Carl Norman, who has been watching the sinkhole from day one, says that he wouldn’t be at all surprised if this spectacular collapse pushed salty water out of that abandoned well. “A lot of people don’t know this well is a salt water disposal well.”

Fregia says a well also sits on Spruce Street. Saratoga Oil Company owns it, he said. “Why this hasn’t been posted as a salt water disposal well I don’t know.”

Meanwhile, the railroad commission is investigating whether a salt water injection well near the sinkhole played a role in it’s collapse.

Operators of wells within a mile of the sinkhole have been asked to voluntarily shut down.

The Railroad Commission says that the well on Spruce Street is on the cusp and it is still active. An RRC spokesperson said that the commission will ask Saratoga Oil to close that well too.

E-mail 11 News reporter Leigh Frillici

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