NW LA gas ordinance to see first meeting in March
Proposed law would place restrictions on drilling, exploration
By Drew Pierson • dpierson@gannett.com • February 19, 2009 2:00 am

Buzz up! Residents will be able to get their first peek at a proposed oil and gas ordinance after the Bossier Parish Police Jury on Wednesday called a meeting for 6 p.m. March 3.


The meeting will be held at the Bossier Parish Health Unit, 3022 Old Minden Road, in Bossier City.

During the meeting, Bossier Parish staff will explain the proposed restrictions on natural gas and oil drilling, covering the areas of noise from machinery, setback distances for pipelines and measures to reduce the wear and tear of supply trucks on local roads.

Bossier and Caddo parishes along with interest from DeSoto and Webster parishes have been working for months on a unified ordinance that would regulate gas drilling in the area.

The meeting would give the public its first glimpse at the draft of the ordinance, which has been crafted under the guidance of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association, the state and local attorneys.

Bossier Parish Attorney Patrick Jackson announced the draft was ready at the Bossier Parish Police Jury meeting Wednesday and said a similar announcement could be expected from the Caddo Parish Commission this week.

Jackson said many parties had expressed interest in seeing the ordinance. If ratified, the ordinance would be something of a prototype for municipalities around the state.

The proposed ordinance comes as natural gas drillers delve further into developed parts of the region to pursue the Haynesville Shale, despite the worsening economy.

During the same meeting Wednesday, the Police Jury postponed proposed approval for houses in the Olde Oaks subdivision because the plan called for building houses along an underground natural gas pipeline.

There are multiple developments across the parish that already have natural gas pipelines running through them, some of which are transmission lines, the highest pressure and most volatile kind. But in some cases, the development was built first, then the pipeline was approved for the neighborhood.

Police jurors, faced with pictures of a pipeline explosion in Carthage, Texas, brought by Police Juror Brad Cummings, hesitated to approve a neighborhood — albeit with a 30-foot undeveloped buffer that would run along the top of the pipeline — knowing the potential for danger.

"I can't with a good conscience vote to put one (pipeline) in a subdivision; I'm sorry," Cummings said.

Police Juror Jerome Darby agreed.

"Once I push this button and say 'yes,' it comes back to each one of us," Darby said.

Developer James Harris was on hand to answer police jurors' questions and said that during construction in the development, workers had accidentally hit and ruptured the pipe once already, though the pipe has since been dug deeper.

The Police Jury postponed voting on the development until staff could contact the city of Fort Worth, Texas, to see what their recommendations were for a pipeline in such close proximity to residences.

Fort Worth has a similar natural gas deposit under its city limits, discovered before the Haynesville Shale, called the Barnett Shale. City staff there have been on the forefront of writing natural gas drilling ordinances.

"We've had tremendous development all over the parish," said Bossier Parish Administrator Bill Altimus. "In the rural areas, we've seen it, but also as it moves into more urban areas we have a lot more concerns. We want to have the ability to make sure those concerns are understood."