Coast leaving scientists with a sinking feeling

Houston Chronicle ^ | June 5, 2005 | ERIC BERGER

[Aleighanne]

Hey now wait....I thought California was supposed to drop off into the ocean. Now its LA and TX?

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

Sucking out all that oil and gas has consequences.

[SIDENET]

I have two replies:

Bush's fault, and

WE"RE DOOMED!

[Lazamataz]

Haliburton is to blame.

They're draining all the oil, causing the land to sink.

[txroadkill]

Don’t worry about Texas; it will never drift off into the Gulf because Oklahoma SUCKS!

[mountainlyons]

The Colorado River no longer drains into the ocean. California gets most of the water that leaves Colorado and the only water that gets to Mexico is salty, dirty flood water. Most of Colorado was under water once. Their Earth changes and we can not change the whole earth no mater what the ecofreaks think!

[MikefromOhio]

The other, which Dokka says is causing nearly all of the problems along Louisiana's coast, is natural, or geologic, subsidence.

that is the important part right there. How much do you want to bet it will be ignored by the MSM?

[Dog Gone]

It's well-established law that land under navigable waters belongs to the state. However, it's also established law that subsidence caused by unnatural causes (i.e., the pumping out of oil or groundwater) does not transfer title to the property to the state even though the land goes underwater.

I'm involved in a dispute with the state of Texas over just such a situation. Much of my company's land is now underwater and that was caused by water wells drilled in the 1940s. The subsidence is up to nine feet.

At stake is who owns the minerals under a producing gas well, and over a million dollars is in dispute.

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

It's well-established law that land under navigable waters belongs to the state. However, it's also established law that subsidence caused by unnatural causes (i.e., the pumping out of oil or groundwater) does not transfer title to the property to the state even though the land goes underwater.

I own a shellfish farm, harvesting clams and oysters.

I own most of the bottom, originating from state grants in 1866, and some bottom I lease.

Never thought about mineral rights beneath the clams, however.

[Bernard Marx]

That's what we get for buying stuff from the French. I'll bet that damn' Louisiana Purchase came without any kind of guarantee or warranty!

[DTogo]

Probably sinking from the weight of all those illegal immigrants "flooding" into Texas.

[nmh]

California is a given ... it's just a matter of time.

THIS is eye opening with some very bad consequences - oil!

[Texas Eagle]

By century's end, much of southern Louisiana may sink into the Gulf of Mexico.

Good-bye Joe, me gotta go, me oh, my oh....

[Dog Gone]

I should emphasize that I was only referring to Texas law, although the navigable water doctrine is pretty common throughout the US. If you can pilot a motorboat on the water, and it's a waterway (stream or bay), chances are the bottom belongs to the state.

And this is true even when when the stream changes course.

As you can imagine, there is a ton of litigation over this issue.

[lewislynn]

By century's end, much of southern Louisiana may sink into the Gulf of Mexico. The Texas coastline, including Galveston, could soon follow.

That's got to be very disappointing news for those of you hoping it was going to be California.

[Judge Roy]

only relative readings can be made from a bench mark. One would have to drill down below where no movement is possible and install a concrete pier or what ever but then you would need to take reading at a constant temperature of the pier. Then take an average reading from sea level after facturing in the rise of the oceans from silt from the land the world over.

[upchuck]

Subsidence — the sinking or settling of land — comes in two basic forms. One is man-made, caused by groundwater pumping or oil and gas extraction. The other, which Dokka says is causing nearly all of the problems along Louisiana's coast, is natural, or geologic, subsidence.

Well, at least this isn't President Bush's fault. Wait! Maybe it is.

[Dog Gone]

I think most would agree that California fell off the deep end quite awhile ago.

[Old Professer]

It's not cheap. The basic premise of the work Dokka did in Louisiana, which Jeffress will emulate to some degree in Texas, is to start at some point well inland that rests on bedrock. For Dokka that meant the upper reaches of Louisiana. For Jeffress, it means Austin. Then, like traditional surveyors, they take level readings by sight all the way to the coast. It's a time-consuming, costly process, requiring about $1,500 per mile.

I wonder how they account for the curvature of the land.