La. Admin. Code tit. 43 § XVII-3117

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 9, September 20, 2024

Section XVII-3117 - Cavern and Surface Facility Design Requirements

A. This Section provides general standards for design of salt caverns to assure that project development can be conducted in a reasonable, prudent, and a systematic manner and shall stress physical and environmental safety. The cavern design shall be modified where necessary to conform with good engineering and geologic practices.

B. Cavern Spacing Requirements

1. Property Boundary. The wellhead and borehole shall be located such that the salt cavern at its maximum diameter shall not extend closer than 100 feet to the property boundary of the salt cavern waste disposal facility.

2. Adjacent Structures within the Salt. As measured in any direction, the minimum separation between walls of adjacent salt caverns or between the walls of the salt cavern and any manmade structure within the salt stock shall not be less than 200 feet.

3. Salt Periphery. Without exception or variance to these rules and regulations, the minimum separation between the walls of a salt cavern at any point and the periphery of the salt stock shall not be less than 300 feet.

C. Cavern Coalescence. The Office of Conservation may permit the use of coalesced salt caverns for waste disposal. It shall be the duty of the applicant, owner or operator to demonstrate that operation of coalesced salt caverns under the proposed cavern operating conditions can be accomplished in a physical and environmentally safe manner. The intentional subsurface coalescing of adjacent salt caverns must be requested by the applicant, owner or operator in writing and be approved by the Office of Conservation before beginning or resumption of salt cavern waste disposal operations. Approval for salt cavern coalescence shall only be considered upon a showing by the applicant, owner or operator that the stability and integrity of the salt cavern and salt stock shall not be compromised and that salt cavern waste disposal operations can be conducted in a physical and environmentally safe manner. If the design of adjacent salt caverns should include approval for the subsurface coalescing of adjacent salt caverns, the minimum spacing requirement of §3117. B.2 above shall not apply to the coalesced salt caverns.

La. Admin. Code tit. 43, § XVII-3117

Promulgated by the Department of Natural Resources, Office of Conservation, LR 29:927 (June 2003).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 30:4 et seq.