Buzz up! MANSFIELD – A fourth business with Haynesville Shale connections has been given the go-ahead to buy land at the DeSoto Parish Police Jury’s 300-plus acre Industrial Park West located between Mansfield and Logansport.


Tom Jones of Arkansas Reclamation Co. asked DeSoto police jurors on Wednesday for permission to purchase 39 acres for $6,000 an acre. The sale cannot be completed until the Police Jury holds a public hearing to allow DeSoto residents a chance to comment.

A similar hearing was held earlier this month for the first three companies seeking other tracts at the industrial site. No objections were voiced for the planned purchase of more than 50 acres by Wyatt Overton, Inc., Master Rig International LLC and 5-B Ventures LLC.

So far, Wyatt Overton is the only one actively following through with the land sale. Final details of the deed were being worked out this week before the sale is closed.
Administrator Steve Brown is uncertain as to the status of the other two companies’ plans.

Jones said the reclamation facility, estimated at $8-10 million, would sit on approximately 20 acres with the rest serving as a buffer zone. The company, which has a similar operation working on the Fayetteville Shale in Arkansas, recycles the oil-based drilling mud, a byproduct of the shale fracturing process, into solids and liquids that are resold to natural gas drillers.

The 24-hour operation would result in about 50 to 100 trucks making daily trips.
Approximately 55 to 65 employees, including engineers, welders, mechanics and laborers, are anticipated, with salaries ranging from $12.50 to $17.50, Jones said. By comparison, the Arkansas operation, which is slightly smaller, employs 40.

“But the shale here is larger so we anticipate a larger facility and more employees,” Jones said.

He expects the majority of the workers will be hired locally, pointing out to inquiring police jurors that all but two employed at the Arkansas operation live within a 20-mile radius of the facility.

Jones and his two partners already are going through the permitting process required by the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources and Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, which could take up to 120 days.

Buck