The two divers hired by the state Department of Natural Resources for a March 1-2 search and sampling mission at the bottom of Lake Peigneur found “nothing that pinpoints a source of the reported bubbling in the lake.”

A “Save Lake Peigneur” spokeswoman, however, said today she is still questioning the methods the state is using and said DNR has refused to hear outside advice from other professionals in the diving field.

In Monday’s DNR report, the divers reported an average water depth at 3 to 5 feet. The bottom consisted of soft mud and soft shell.

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Louisiana Commissioner of Conservation James Welsh also said there were no signs of the bubbling on March 1 and 2, when divers and contracted technicians collected samples from an area where an old dry-hole well had been located and capped decades before.

The divers conducted 100-foot radial sweeps in four areas within the lake. Divers also left buoys as “semi-permanent markings.” Yet lab results found no presence of substances at concentrations that would “definitively pose harm to public health or show a need for environmental concern.”

Welsh said Nara Crowley, a spokeswoman for the eyewitnesses who said they have seen the bubbling several times, told them that the bubbles would form in a line for a few hours, then turn to a froth on top of the water. The froth would then slowly dissipate from that area of the lake.

No one has filmed the actual bubbling. But Crowley and others formed a “Save Lake Peigneur” association and have held meetings on a weekly basis to discuss the issue.

National Public Radio did a four-minute piece on the bubbling issue a few weeks ago.

“The truth is, by sending divers into a completely black environment, they could possibly feel for wellheads, but it’s not the best method to check for cracks or crevices,” Crowley said this morning.

“What professional advised them to do it that way? Because we feel anybody in the diving industry who has expertise would not choose that method to try to find a solution to the problem. Therefore, their method is simply a Band-Aid — something that looks good for the people.”

Crowley said the group has asked for sonar imaging to find the cause of the bubbling, which occurred every 10 days or so in the colder months of January and February. The events have been rarely seen in March.

The Gov. Kathleen Blanco administration has asked DNR to find a solution, “but the people that are delegating the work aren’t consulting with professionals to get real solutions,” Crowley said.

She said she is reluctant to bring her husband into the fray, but after consulting with him, she thinks it’s time.

“My husband, Bill, has been in the diving industry for 36 years,” Crowley said. “So, I know this firsthand, personally.”

Bill Crowley said that 60 years ago divers would be sent into the water, but there are new, better technologies.

“Now the technology is there,” Nara Crowley said. “What you do is sonar imaging, which can see through the darkness where the divers can’t. They can’t see a thing.

“The professional way of doing it is, do the sonar imaging, then do what’s called ‘sub-bottom profiling,’ ” Crowley said. “(Bill Crowley’s) experience in diving qualifies him to make these statements. We offered his professional advice, without charge, to the DNR. They did not even return the phone call.”

Crowley said the group has monitored AGL Resources’ operations at the lake and still think the Atlanta-based company’s two underground gas-storage caverns there might be a source of the problem.

AGL’s Jack Holt refutes those claims.

“While we are convinced that the Jefferson Island Storage and Hub facilities are not the cause of any bubbling activity,” Holt said this morning, “we share the area residents’ desire to determine the nature and cause of the bubbles.”

Holt said AGL would continue to support the state “as they monitor the lake in their ongoing regulatory duties.”

The state plans no further testing, Welsh said.