Proposed oil and gas laws may be ready soon
Proposed oil and gas laws may be ready soon
By Adam Kealoha Causey • acausey@gannett.com • February 17, 2009 2:00 am
Buzz up! Northwest Louisiana's first try at wide-reaching oil and gas laws soon may be available for public review.
Shreveport and Bossier City and Caddo and Bossier parishes have been working on a comprehensive set of ordinances to give local governments leverage in controlling drilling in the Haynesville Shale natural gas field. Most of that oversight now lies with the state.
Lawyers are tight-lipped about the details since they haven't completed a draft, started as early as November and still being polished Monday. Once the proposals are in the hands of elected officials, residents should be able to look over them.
Bossier police jurors could have the propositions by Wednesday for their meeting, according to Parish Attorney Patrick Jackson. The move for regulations started in Bossier. Webster and DeSoto also have expressed interest in using what their more populous neighbors are examining.
"It's such a complicated process. It's taken a little longer than we hoped," Jackson said. "We had all tried to, as best we could, make it as uniform as possible so it would make it more predictable for the industry and the landowners."
Bossier enlisted the help of Shreveport attorney Neil Erwin. Besides governments, he is working with oil and gas companies such as Chesapeake Energy Corp. and industry advocacy group Louisiana Oil and Gas Association. Kevin McCotter, director of corporate development in Louisiana for Chesapeake Energy, referred questions about the proposals to the association.
"There's a lot of different things being looked at. It's coming," said Don Briggs, president of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association. "I think it's going to be a balanced, good thing for the communities and for the industry."
Balance, in Briggs' terms, would be regulations that protect resources without being too restrictive on business.
Broadly speaking, the ordinances are aimed at protecting water, limiting road damage, and controlling noise, lighting and hours of operation at drilling sites. The Shreveport area has taken queues from Fort Worth, Texas, where the local government drew up similar laws for Barnett Shale production.
Susan Alanis, planning and development department director for Fort Worth, said resident involvement is crucial to the process.
"Both of the task forces that we formulated to address the policy included citizen and neighborhood representatives," Alanis said.
Just because local leasing -- particularly in Shreveport and Bossier City's urban areas -- has slowed, Alanis said, doesn't mean officials can't help their constituents. The disconnect between contracted landmen, who lease mineral rights, and the drilling companies they work for can lead property owners to forget a well may go in near their homes.
"We know that's not true," Alanis said. "There will be a direct impact on those neighborhoods."
Oil and gas companies and property owners often make voluntary agreements to patch crumpling roads and fix other damages.
Shreveport interim Chief Administrative Officer Dale Sibley said the city wants more than that. "We're probably going to end up codifying a lot of that stuff so the local jurisdiction will have some authority to actually enforce some of these parameters we're developing.
Caddo Commissioner Matthew Linn expects he and his cohorts will look with extremely critical eyes at the first draft they see. He plans to read through corresponding state laws before he votes on local versions.
"Somebody's going to have to check to make sure that these things are done," Linn said. "We would have to have someone qualified to enforce it."
The commission earlier this month postponed a vote to place a drill site in south Caddo's Eddie Jones Park. A sticking point was getting the parish's own oil and gas ordinances in place before making a decision.
By Adam Kealoha Causey • acausey@gannett.com • February 17, 2009 2:00 am
Buzz up! Northwest Louisiana's first try at wide-reaching oil and gas laws soon may be available for public review.
Shreveport and Bossier City and Caddo and Bossier parishes have been working on a comprehensive set of ordinances to give local governments leverage in controlling drilling in the Haynesville Shale natural gas field. Most of that oversight now lies with the state.
Lawyers are tight-lipped about the details since they haven't completed a draft, started as early as November and still being polished Monday. Once the proposals are in the hands of elected officials, residents should be able to look over them.
Bossier police jurors could have the propositions by Wednesday for their meeting, according to Parish Attorney Patrick Jackson. The move for regulations started in Bossier. Webster and DeSoto also have expressed interest in using what their more populous neighbors are examining.
"It's such a complicated process. It's taken a little longer than we hoped," Jackson said. "We had all tried to, as best we could, make it as uniform as possible so it would make it more predictable for the industry and the landowners."
Bossier enlisted the help of Shreveport attorney Neil Erwin. Besides governments, he is working with oil and gas companies such as Chesapeake Energy Corp. and industry advocacy group Louisiana Oil and Gas Association. Kevin McCotter, director of corporate development in Louisiana for Chesapeake Energy, referred questions about the proposals to the association.
"There's a lot of different things being looked at. It's coming," said Don Briggs, president of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association. "I think it's going to be a balanced, good thing for the communities and for the industry."
Balance, in Briggs' terms, would be regulations that protect resources without being too restrictive on business.
Broadly speaking, the ordinances are aimed at protecting water, limiting road damage, and controlling noise, lighting and hours of operation at drilling sites. The Shreveport area has taken queues from Fort Worth, Texas, where the local government drew up similar laws for Barnett Shale production.
Susan Alanis, planning and development department director for Fort Worth, said resident involvement is crucial to the process.
"Both of the task forces that we formulated to address the policy included citizen and neighborhood representatives," Alanis said.
Just because local leasing -- particularly in Shreveport and Bossier City's urban areas -- has slowed, Alanis said, doesn't mean officials can't help their constituents. The disconnect between contracted landmen, who lease mineral rights, and the drilling companies they work for can lead property owners to forget a well may go in near their homes.
"We know that's not true," Alanis said. "There will be a direct impact on those neighborhoods."
Oil and gas companies and property owners often make voluntary agreements to patch crumpling roads and fix other damages.
Shreveport interim Chief Administrative Officer Dale Sibley said the city wants more than that. "We're probably going to end up codifying a lot of that stuff so the local jurisdiction will have some authority to actually enforce some of these parameters we're developing.
Caddo Commissioner Matthew Linn expects he and his cohorts will look with extremely critical eyes at the first draft they see. He plans to read through corresponding state laws before he votes on local versions.
"Somebody's going to have to check to make sure that these things are done," Linn said. "We would have to have someone qualified to enforce it."
The commission earlier this month postponed a vote to place a drill site in south Caddo's Eddie Jones Park. A sticking point was getting the parish's own oil and gas ordinances in place before making a decision.
Views: 120
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Checkmateking on -
Just what we need, like the clowns who sit in city hall don't have enough to screw up, the city is crumbling around their ears as it is. I think alot of well sites would look a hell of alot better than what most of Shreveport looks like.
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Permalink Reply by Checkmateking on
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They need to keep their mouths shut and hope they don't skip over Shreveport altogether, I can just see the ignorant community activists parading around in my head.
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Permalink Reply by Two Dogs, Pirate on
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What dance do you do KB, the bougaloo, shake a tail feather, twist, monkey, limbo, disco deva, fish, fly, fart or chicken walk etc...
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Permalink Reply by Two Dogs, Pirate on
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Yea I am kinda that way, but when I do the chicken walk or aligator most ladies leave the dance floor. The Bougaloo was more of a thing that could be freestyled without pissing someone off. Line dancing was a chance for the novice to participate. And yes it is all in your head, TD.
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Permalink Reply by Bobi Carr ("parker") on
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UPDATE IN THE TIMES
Caddo and Bossier elected officials are getting their first glances at proposed laws aimed at regulating oil and gas drilling.
Now, they just need their constituents to weigh in.
The parishes, along with Shreveport and Bossier City and DeSoto and Webster parishes, have worked to have similar ordinances for the benefit of the oil and gas industry and northwest Louisiana residents. The other entities have not publicly floated drafts.
Jim Smith, head of the Caddo Commission's natural resources committee, says it's too early to tell what kind of adjustments could be needed on the proposals. The commission and Bossier Parish Police Jury likely will consider approving the ordinances in the next few months.
"It's going to take a good bit of study on it from our perspective," said Smith, the commissioner for southwest Caddo. "We're going to have to hold some public meetings."
The proposals were on the agenda of a recent meeting of the ShreveCentre Coalition, a group of neighborhood associations pushing for property owner rights in Haynesville Shale natural gas production. Besides six or seven Caddo and Shreveport public officials, about 15 local residents attended. Smith attended the meeting, but he was disappointed more constituents didn't attend.
"What I see is we've got a heck of a lot of work to do," Smith said.
Teresa Edgerton, president of the Highland Restoration Association, said Caddo Parish Attorney Charles Grubb and Shreveport City Attorney Terri Scott seem to have "a good grasp of the issues."
But she wants to know more about how the ordinances, if passed, would be enforced. Copies of the proposals were not at the meeting.
"What we didn't hear were any penalties or fines," Edgerton said. "What happens if you don't comply? Where are the teeth to this legislation?"
The state generally handles oil and gas law enforcement, but Scott said Louisiana regulations don't make room for urban drilling.
"At 3 o'clock in the morning, if some property owner wakes up because of noises or wakes up because of lights, they're not going to call the commissioner of conservation," Scott said. "They're going to call their city council member. They're going to call any local official."
Bossier and Caddo's oil and gas ordinance proposals differ only slightly. Here are highlights included in both:
Site access: Companies cannot drive across parks or other public property except on public roads or pathways designated as truck or commercial delivery routes.
Dust, vibration and odor: By-products such as smells and shaking must be minimized during drilling, production, compression and transmission.
Lighting: Beams cannot point directly onto public roads or adjacent property within 300 feet of a rig. Lights also should face downward, as much as possible.
Vehicles: Commercial automobiles that weigh more than three tons will be restricted from public highways except government-defined routes or with special permits.
Pipelines: Conduit to move oil or natural gas cannot interfere with existing utilities. Companies also must supply the parish with plats showing plans for pipelines. They must include geographic information system coordinates.
Water supply: Public water supplies cannot be used for drilling and production — specifically including fracturing operations — unless the operator has complied with all parish and state regulations.
Disposal wells and compressor stations: Commercial saltwater disposal wells and compressor stations must be in industrial zones and no less than 500 feet from a protected area. Compressor stations must not create beyond 300 feet sounds that exceed the ambient noise level before production is started. The station operator will report the predevelopment noise level.
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Permalink Reply by The_Baron on
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What jumps out at me is....What right does the commision have to regulate the public water supplies of towns and cities?
If Greenwood or Shreveport want to sell some water, they should be allowed to do so at their discretion! -
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Permalink Reply by Bobi Carr ("parker") on
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Baron,
I interpret this to mean that the operator cannot buy "city" water from an individual or a business and thereby deplete the "city" water system.
Remember these systems are already having difficulties keeping up with present demand BEFORE drilling.
I think it is only prudent that these government entities try to protect their ability to provide water for their constituents.
These proposed regulations may delay drilling on my property, but I believe they are needed for the greater good of the community. -
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Permalink Reply by The_Baron on
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I don't believe the City of Shreveport is having water shortages at all, they do have some pressure problems in South Shreveport, but that is indicative of a overburdened distribution system, not of a shortage in supply.
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Permalink Reply by The_Baron on
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In addition, the town of mansfield (i know, not in caddo parish) enjoyed selling water to o/g companies, the additional revenue was benifitial to the town as they had the excess capacity to sell...
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