Do we know what we’re doing?

…Take for example, the proposed Department of Energy salt dome project near Richton slated for storing 160 million barrels of oil. Sounds simple doesn’t it? Just dig a hole in the ground, create jobs, and bring money into the state. No big deal, right?

The DOE plans to place roughly 250 miles of pipe lines, which will be used to pump fresh water from the Pascagoula River to Richton for solution mining, and then pump the resulting salt slurry south to the Gulf of Mexico near Pascagoula.


Gov. Haley Barbour says, “This project will be an enormous economic boost for south Mississippi and will propel our state into the forefront in protecting and preserving vital national energy resources.”

Lost amid the governor’s glowing assessment are the details, and this is where the controversy begins.

Solution mining involves injecting water into the salt dome, dissolving the salt into a slurry brine and piping the waste to the Gulf. This particular project will require 50 million gallons of fresh water every day, for five years.

Hattiesburg American