ST. TAMMANY FRACKING OPPONENTS LOSE ON APPEAL - DRILLING TO BEGIN IN 30 DAYS
Fracking opponents lose round in state appeals court
By Robert Rhoden, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on March 09, 2016 at 5:50 PM, updated March 10, 2016 at 8:09 AM
Fracking opponents were dealt a big blow Wednesday (March 9) by the state's 1st Circuit Court of Appeal, which upheld a district court ruling that St. Tammany Parish government cannot use its zoning regulations to block a proposed oil drilling project northeast of Mandeville. The controversial case is likely to move to the state Supreme Court.
The appeals court in Baton Rouge, which heard arguments in the case Nov. 5, upheld the April 2015 ruling of 19th Judicial District Judge William Morvant in the lawsuit brought by St. Tammany and the group Concerned Citizens of St. Tammany in an effort to block the project by Helis Oil & Gas of New Orleans.
Judge rules in favor of Helis Oil and the state Department of Natural Resources' Office of Conservation.
"We're pleased, obviously pleased with this ruling," Helis spokesman Greg Beuerman said. "We anticipated this."
"We're hoping this will serve to send the right signal and break the log jam and allow us to move forward. Our hope is the parish will ... realize they've played their hand as long as they can and should let this process proceed."
Concerned Citizens President Rick Franzo said the group would appeal the decision.
He said the ruling expands the ability of oil and gas companies to drill in places that are in direct conflict with parishes' master plans.
"Under this ruling, it does not matter if a piece of land is within a residential community, because even if the neighbors, the town, and the parish are all in opposition to it, and even if local zoning and other laws would make it illegal, the decision on whether an oil well can be drilled is the sole decision of Baton Rouge bureaucrats whose whims are, in practice, indistinguishable from oil and gas companies."
Parish government spokesman Ronnie Simpson said the parish learned of the ruling late Wednesday afternoon. "'We are going to consult our outside counsel and determine what the next steps would be," he said.
In its decision, the appeals court said, "We believe, as did the trial court, that St. Tammany Parish's zoning ordinances must yield to state law ..." The court referred to the state law that says political subdivisions are "expressly forbidden" to prohibit or interfere with the drilling of a well by the holder of a state drilling permit.
The court held that parish zoning ordinances are preempted by state law when it comes to the state's regulation of oil and gas activity. It also ruled that the state Office of Conservation, which granted a drilling permit to Helis, considered the provisions of St. Tammany Parish's master plan in accordance with state law.
The court costs of $9,055 will be split 50/50 between the parish government and Concerned Citizens, which intervened in the lawsuit.
The proposed drilling and fracking project has been controversial since surfacing publicly in the spring of 2014. Many parish officials and citizens oppose the project on environmental grounds, expressing concerns that it could damage the aquifer that supplies the parish's drinking water, open the door to the industrialization of the parish and harm property values.
Helis has a state permit to drill a vertical well on undeveloped land, zoned for residential use, east of Louisiana 1088 and just north of Interstate 12. Should the well data prove promising, the company has said it would then seek state and federal approvals to drill horizontally and use the controversial hydraulic fracturing process to release oil from a shale formation.
The company has said it could safely drill the well and would take steps beyond what is required by law to safeguard St. Tammany's environment.
The parish government filed its lawsuit in June 2014 in hopes of halting the project.
Wednesday's appeals court decision was among recent rulings to to go against fracking opponents.
In December, a federal judge in New Orleans rejected the town of Abita Springs' argument that the Army Corps of Engineers improperly awarded a wetlands permit to Helis. And in January, a state court judge in Baton Rouge denied the town's request to invalidate Helis' drilling permit through an injunction.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dion Warr, CPL on
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The ruling will be upheld at the Supreme Court of Louisiana as well. This is pretty well settled law. Whether Helis still wants to drill the well at this point in the current environment is less settled.
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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on
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Helis plans to begin drilling at St. Tammany site by end of the month
BY Faimon A. Roberts III| froberts@theadvocate.com June 13, 2016; 5:21 p.m.
After more than two years of legal and political wrangling, Helis Oil & Gas Co. is set to begin drilling its St. Tammany Parish oil well by the end of this month, officials said Monday.
The company plans to begin moving a 100-foot-tall drilling rig onto the site within a week in preparation for drilling operations to start, said Mike Barham, the Helis manager overseeing the project.
Once the rig is in place, the drilling is expected to last about 30 days, hopefully wrapping up before school begins in early August, Barham said.
This first phase of the project will involve drilling a 13,000-foot-deep vertical well and will not include any hydraulic fracturing, Barham said.
The company plans to collect samples and also conduct tests on a 270-foot-thick layer of rock more than 12,000 feet deep to see if the formation, part of the Tusacaloosa Marine Shale, could be an economically viable source of oil, Barham said.
Analysis of the samples and test results is expected to take several months. If the results are positive — a 50-50 proposition, Barham said — Helis would move to Phase 2 of the project, which would involve hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Before that could take place, Helis would have to reapply to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a new wetlands permit for a larger drill pad. It would also have to get permission from the state’s Office of Conservation.
Barham said he would not be surprised if it is 2017 before any fracking could occur.
The company’s announcement comes as the Louisiana Supreme Court considers whether to hear an appeal from St. Tammany Parish and the organization Concerned Citizens of St. Tammany, which have argued in court that the parish’s zoning ordinances preclude industrial activity like drilling for oil at the Helis site.
The site sits at the southern end of a wooded 960-acre tract just over a mile from Lakeshore High School. The area is zoned residential.
A district judge ruled against the parish last year, and that ruling was upheld earlier this year by a state appeals court panel. The Supreme Court has not said whether it will take up the case.
Since Helis announced its plans to drill for oil at the site in early 2014, parish activists have vigorously fought the plan, arguing — like anti-fracking activists around the country — that fracking is dangerous to the environment and residents.
When a well is fracked, water, sand and chemicals are injected deep underground at high pressure, creating fissures in the rock through which oil and natural gas can be extracted. Opponents of the process have blamed it for problems such as contaminated drinking water and respiratory problems.
Proponents say the method has helped reduce the United States’ dependence on imported oil and is a boon to the local economy.
Recently, the low price of crude oil has driven many companies to reduce or eliminate fracking operations, but Barham said that is less of a factor in this case.
“We don’t care if we make money on the first well,” he said. Rather, the company is curious to see whether this part of the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale could be a viable producer. “The driver is do we have potential,” he said.
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Permalink Reply by G.L. Jenkins on -
I'm a good bit away from this proposed well and I live on 40 acres in Livingston and have run many reps off of my land. They can't drill without my permission so pissing them off is Joy itself. This well is being drilled among the homes of many one percenters living in that area so in a way it is the one percenters kicking one percenter butt. Looks like the oil company offered the politicians more under the table money than those living there . Jimmy Hughes.
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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on
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There are no homes in the immediate vicinity. The school is about a mile away. The drill site meets all the state requirements but requires a Corp of Engineers wet land determination. The focus of the opposition was their fear of aquifer contamination which is a result of listening to too many green propagandists and knowing nothing of the actual drilling and completion process. They had their days in court and lost. The decisions by those courts and by the Department of Natural Resources, Office of Conservation are in line with case law and state regulations. Those who don't know the process are free to imagine whatever scenario they may choose but it is highly doubtful that in this instance there was any pay off to any politician, regulator or judge. The industry makes legal campaign contributions to legislators who support their agenda. Although distasteful to many there is nothing illegal about it.
Jimmy, although your are under no obligation to accept a lease or allow any infrastructure on your 40 acres, you can be force pooled into a drilling unit. If you stick around GHS long enough and pay attention you might learn how that can happen.
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Permalink Reply by G.L. Jenkins on
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Doesn't matter forced pool or not they cannot build anything on my land. As far as buying off politicians I have been in business for over 40 years and don't have enough fingers and toes to count the number of politicians I have won Favor with. """The industry makes legal campaign contributions to legislators who support their agenda. Although distasteful to many there is nothing illegal about it."""" You're right nothing Illegal about it BECAUSE POLITICIANS DON'T PASS LAWS TO STOP THE MONEY COMING IN BUYING THEM OFF.
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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on
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And we keep sending them back to Baton Rouge! Many citizens will complain about the influence of money in politics and then send the same old incumbents who defend and benefit from the system back to Baton Rouge. The dysfunction of the legislature is on full display currently. The voters ultimately are to blame.
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Permalink Reply by G.L. Jenkins on
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Yes they are, we are a country divided by race, wealth, religion, sexual orientation and Etc;. We are run by an incompetent and ineffectual community organizer. But back to oil drilling, my dad drilled for oil at Smackover when oil companies were run by hard working men and women who took pride in the work they did this is no longer the case today. Today it is only the bottom line that counts, I have read what they claim fracking has done in other states but only half believe what is reported due to the untrustworthy of the media and those that research those effects. Today there is a agenda for everyone and everything. Back in the day my dad let them drill test wells on the Livingston land I believe they paid him 100 bucks per test and said the gas and oil was too deep. They approached me 4 years ago to do a survey and I refused when asked why I told them they would scare my Gators, the look on their faces was worth more than any money I would have received. Good talking with you.
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Permalink Reply by William C. Morrison on
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Good decision. The Anti-Fracking group here in Texas learned their lesson the hard way too. Basically same kind of ruling where state law trumps county enactments. Since then the Denton County Anti Frack bunch have quietly gone away. Maybe they showed up in Mandeville. New Yorkers are looking across the state line at all the activity in Penn. Pity, what a waste of resources for such silliness.
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Permalink Reply by G.L. Jenkins on
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Did notice a lot of new luxury auto's in the council parking Lot the other day.
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