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 The_Baron on
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I predict that these laws will be challenged in court and tossed out.
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Permalink Reply by The_Baron on
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The problem is these attemts are not just by the city, but the parishes as well.
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Permalink Reply by WHuguet on
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I predict The Baron is right - see Energy Mgmt. Corp. v. City of Shreveport, 397 F.3d 297 (5th Cir. 1/13/05), on appeal after remand, 467 F.3d 471 (5th Cir. 10/6/06).
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Permalink Reply by intrepid on -
The City of Arlington Texas passed a simular ordinance, I believe. Has it been challenged?
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Permalink Reply by The_Baron on
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Different State.
In LA, the Dept of Nat. Resources has all athourity to regulate mineral exploration. They also have most of the athourity on groundwater wells.
Local law can not trump state law.
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Permalink Reply by The_Baron on
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Not entirely,
The City owns the lake, but not the minerals.
Futhermore, these proposed resrtictions sound like they are targeted at oil and gas alone. What about other industries? Don't timber trucks damage roads? What right does the city and parish have to target one industry?
I stand by my prediction that these attempt to regulate the oil and gas industry will not succeed.
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Permalink Reply by The_Baron on
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The problem I am seeing is that these regulations are focused on one industry. They are not broad ordinaces directed at all industry, just o/g.
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Permalink Reply by The_Baron on
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I am not opposed to enforcement of existing laws. Nor am I opposed to additional regualtion, esp in urban areas. However, I feel these matters should be addressed by the DNR, not the local city councils.
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Wrong KB.
It is a broad ruling and is not being misconstrued. Please read the entire opinion and the rehearing opinion.
City Ordinance 221 attempted to regulate an area within 5,000 feet of Cross Lake and specifically prohibited wells within 1,000 feet of Cross Lake, which obviously involved private land.
The Ordinance at issue was declared "preempted by state law." This is both express (La. R.S. 30:4 and 30:28(F)) and implied (occupy the field) via comprehensive LOC regulation.
The case is illustrative of why local, hodge-podge, politically driven, regulation of oil and gas (as opposed to unified, comprehensive state regulation) is a bad idea. The plaintiff in the Energy Management case was actually working with the City on potential regulation, when influential citizens lobbied the city council to ban drilling within 1,000 feet of Cross Lake (which impetus had little to do with safety, etc., but with protecting their view)
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KB,
Well, I'm glad our disagreement is respectful, sorry if mine didn't seem that way. I can see how one could (or would wish to) narrowly construe EMC, especially given the bad facts and the original holding. Hell, that was the whole reason there had to be a rehearing on remand!
While one can envision positive merits of parochial regulation, the downside is just as readily visible. Maybe there is some leeway on the fringes for things like road usage, power usage, etc., however, if it overlaps with the LOC or DEQ, IMHO it is verboten.
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Permalink Reply by Muddigger on
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Boy for those of us that think state politics are corrupt, We would get us a new circus. I think they should just turn all of it over to Little Brad.
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