Texas Brine, State Agree on Plan to Assess Sinkhole

The Louisiana Office of Conservation has modified orders requiring Texas Brine Co. LLC to assess the status of sediments under an 8.5-acre sinkhole in northern Assumption Parish, prompting the company to withdraw a lawsuit filed last month against the state.

The Advocate reports the state agency and the Houston-based company were set for a hearing at 9 a.m. Tuesday before state District Judge Wilson Fields in Baton Rouge. Texas Brine spokesman Sonny Cranch says the company's Dec. 28 lawsuit was withdrawn as a result of the amended order released Monday.

About 150 households in Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou have been evacuated since Aug. 3, the day the sinkhole was discovered.