On innumerable social occasions, I've found myself describing in detail the 1980 Lake Peigneur, LA, disaster when an errant Texaco oil-drilling crew, drilling underwater, pierced the side of a salt mine, flooding it and emptying the lake. The wound to the mine was mortal, but the salt miners were so well drilled in emergency evacuation that all 55 miners escaped without injury. You can see the action unfold on YouTube .
So it makes perfect sense that Louisiana salt miners take seriously efforts by mine managers to maintain readiness for mine disasters. Thus, the headline in yesterday's Daily Iberian (New Iberia, LA) was eye-catching, but unsurprising: "Mine Stages Disaster ." No, it wasn't an insurance scam. It was a full-scale drill by Cargill Salt's Avery Island mine. Drills like this are why salt mine rescue teams regularly dominate national competitions among various mine rescue units which compete annually, recognizing that competition heightens not only skills, but awareness.
