By Drew Pierson • dpierson@gannett.com • April 16, 2009


The Bossier Police Jury once again has postponed the long-proposed law to regulate oil and natural gas production that would be the first in the state, delaying a vote even on parts of the proposal until at least two weeks from now.



"The industry issues we have had have worked themselves out for now. ... But those issues might be coming," Bossier Parish Attorney Patrick Jackson told police jurors Wednesday.

Taken almost verbatim from the oil and natural gas law in Fort Worth, Texas, which discovered a similar natural gas deposit under its city limits several years ago, Bossier Parish was supposed to be the first Louisiana municipality to have ratified its own law governing many parts of the rapidly growing industry coming to the area to drill the Haynesville Shale. Caddo and DeSoto, among other parishes, also are evaluating Bossier's proposal and considering following in step.

But a storm of events has pushed the proposal that many expected to have been enacted two weeks ago to now looking, perhaps, to be more than a month away. Chief among those reasons: opposition from the oil and natural gas industry.

"We don't want this thing to go to court," Ray Lasseigne, chairman of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association board, said while imagining hypothetical situations that could happen were Bossier to too hastily ratify a law.

Besides industry concerns, Louisiana is the second reason for the delay. The state is in charge of big-picture items when it comes to regulating the oil and natural gas industry — where drill sites go, who can drill them and where the pipelines go. Parish laws — including Bossier's, Caddo's and others' — are intended to manage everything left over, mostly quality-of-life issues like how loud compressor stations that pressurize those pipes can be.

But Louisiana recently announced it is coming out with its own quality-of-life law governing drilling in the Haynesville Shale. A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled May 21 in Shreveport.

So like a game of rock, paper, scissors, if the state passes a law at odds with Bossier's, companies would first have to comply with the state's then ensure they are in compliance with Bossier's