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May 8, 2008 5:54 am US/Pacific
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Officials Monitoring Massive Texas Sinkhole
DAISETTA, Texas (AP) ―
Regulators continued monitoring a massive sinkhole which has swallowed up equipment and vehicles since surfacing outside Daisetta in southeast Texas.
There were no reports of injuries or of any homes being damaged. The Texas Railroad Commission says investigators are checking pipelines in the area and trying to determine if any regulations have been violated.
Officials with Texas Natural Resources and Conservation were monitoring air and water quality. So far, no pollutants have been detected.
Television news footage showed a tractor, some oil field equipment and some telephone poles falling into the sinkhole as it grew. The sinkhole was believed to have grown to at least 600 feet long and 200 feet deep by Wednesday night. Vehicles from a nearby state highway were being diverted, said Mary Credeur, a dispatcher with the Daisetta Police Department.
"We're just going to shut the road down and see how big it gets. Hopefully it will stop," Branch said.
"It's a huge hole in the ground, and it's still cracking," Credeur said.
Officials are trying to determine what caused the sinkhole, but its history as a once-booming oil town might be to blame.
Officials say the ground might have caved in because of the collapse of an old salt dome where oil brine and natural gas are stored underground. Daisetta sits on a salt dome, one of the most common types of traps for oil.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)