Louisiana's St. Tammany Parish Comes One Step Closer to Fracking

Julie-Dermansky-022
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The Department of Louisiana Natural Resources (DNR)ย has approved a unit permit for Helis Oil & Gas Company for a site in St. Tammany Parish that the company plans toย frack.ย 

The departmentโ€™s decision cameย on Friday, August 29, the ninth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the beginning of the Labor Dayย weekend.

โ€œReleasing the news on Friday is typical of Louisiana’s government. It is another demonstration of how DNR is an advocate for the oil industry, not the people,โ€ retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honorรฉ, founder of the Greenย Army, told DeSmogBlog. โ€œThey know the majority of the parish do not want fracking and that they are doing something the people don’t want. Releasing the news like that isย disrespectful.โ€

Citizens in St. Tamany Parish

Citizens in St. Tammany Parish fill a city council meeting in May, pushing the council to fight against fracking. ยฉ2014 Julieย Dermansky

Getting a unit permit is the first step a company must take before applying for a permit toย frack.ย 

โ€œIt doesn’t permit to drill, it doesn’t permit to set up, It says if the well is drilled and is successful, this is who gets a piece of it,โ€ย Patrick Courreges, communications director for the department, told the Timesย Picayune.

โ€œIt is very rare that a drilling permit is declined once a unit permit is given,โ€ Callie Casstevens, lawyer for Concerned Citizens ofย St. Tammany Parish,ย toldย DeSmogBlog.ย 

The site Helis intends to frack is about 30 miles from New Orleans on top of the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale, which extends from St.Tammany Parish to beyond Baton Rouge and intoย Mississippi.

The Tuscaloosa Marine Shale holds an estimated seven billion barrels of oil beneath the Southern Hills Aquifer.ย Fracking sites along the Louisiana-Mississippi border have been growing in number since companies started producing oil viaย fracking.

Natural gas flare

Goodrich C.H. Lewis 30-19H-1 well in production with a flare burning inย Amite County, Miss. ยฉ2104 Julie Dermansky for Jon Bowermasterโ€™s Dear President Obamaย Film

Fracking well

Wilkinson County, Miss., Halcon Blackstone 4H-2 well with rig in place at a hydraulic fracturing site. ยฉ2104 Julie Dermansky for Jon Bowermasterโ€™s Dear President Obamaย Film

This fracking boom has started to change the landscape with drilling rigs, flares and heavy truck traffic on ruralย roads.

Plans were recently announced for the region’s firstย โ€œman campโ€ to be built in McComb, Miss., to house the influx of short-term industry workers. The development, called โ€œShale Lodge,โ€ย will haveย 535 units to house oil workers.ย ย 

Local media often fails to mention scientificย studies that present evidence of water contamination and other negative impacts caused by the frackingย industry.

Just a few cases in point: In Pennsylvania, the stateโ€™s Department of Environmental Protection pinpointed 243 cases of water contamination from fracking. The Environmental Protection Agencyโ€™s preliminary studies also show fracking polluted the aquifer and drinking water in Dimock, Pa. Meantime, a Cornell University study linked Oklahoma earthquakes to the frackingย industry.

Yet statements by Helis Oil representatives,ย who claim there are no provenย incidentsย of frackingย contaminatingย water, are used to end local news reports.ย And dairy farmer Larry McDaniel, whoย stands to profit from fracking under his land, has become the face of the fracking industry in theย Tuscaloosa Marine Shale region. With a fracksite adjacent to hisย farm near Kentwood, La., his cattle graze in the shadow of a largeย flare.

Larry McDaniel

McDaniel on his dairy farm, just outside the city limits of Kentwood, La., next to a Goodrich Petroleum frack site. ยฉ2104 Julieย Dermansky

McDaniel has been featured in local media outlets saying fracking is nothing to worry about. The Times Picayune, Newย Orleans’ย main newspaper, has repeatedly used a photo of a carefree McDaniel walking by a flare next to his farm to illustrate itsย stories on fracking in theย region.

McDaniel โ€œhas no issues with the safety of fracking and doesnโ€™t understand why the people in St. Tammany Parish doโ€ reported the Picyune. But does McDaniel have enough information to make an informed decision?ย ย 

McDaniel told DeSmogBlog when he first heard about fracking coming to the area he did worry his water might get contaminated. But after an old friend of his (who is a local politician) assured him fracking is safe, he decided there was nothing to worry about. While heย may not have anything negative to say about the frackingย industry in his backyard, he is, however, keeping track of how much milk his cows are giving, just in case that changes.ย ย 

Larry McDaniel

Larry McDaniel milking one of his cows at his dairy farm, just outside the city limits of Kentwood, La. ยฉ2104 Julieย Dermansky

Despite the growth of the fracking industry in nearby parishes, St. Tammany residents areย still hopeful they can keep it out of their ownย parish.

Helisโ€™ proposed 600-acre fracking project still has several hurdles toย overcome.ย For starters, the US Army Corp of Engineers declined a wetland permit Helis needs to commence work. A letter from the Corp questions whether there is another geographic region that would better suit Helis’ goals. It asks the company to considerย reducing or reconfiguring the projectโ€™s footprint in the wetlands area if it is the only suitable site to minimize potentialย impacts.

Helis claims the holdup with the Corp is not a roadblock and plans toย reapply.ย 

โ€œThis is very routine, a normal part of the permitting process,โ€ Helis spokesmanย Greg Beuermanย told the Times Picayune. โ€œIt would be a mistake to overestimate the significance of this routineย request.โ€

Duskyย gopher frogs are also standing in Helisโ€™ย way. The frogs are on theย endangered species list with fewer than 100 adults remaining, according to Collette Adkins Giese, with the Center for Biological Diversity. The Wildlife and Fisheries Department declared the area to be a critical habitat for the frog, challenging Helisโ€™ย right to drill. A judge ruled for the frogs, though the landowner has appealed thatย ruling.

Other legal battles are in the works to stop Helis from fracking,ย too.

The City Council of St. Tammany Parish filed a suit to get an injunction toย block the Department of Natural Resources from issuing a drilling permit, alleging preexisting zoning rules prohibit fracking at the proposed site. They claim their Home Rule Charter regulationsย trump the stateโ€™s permittingย process.

Legal precedent was recently set in Dryden and Middlefield, N.Y.,ย where both towns won the right to banย fracking.ย 

The St. Tammany Parish lawsuit also takes issue with aย Legislative Auditor Report that states the Office of Conservation, which the Department of Natural Resources falls under, is doing an inadequate job of inspecting oil and gas wells in the state. The parish alleges the department canโ€™t keep theย parishย safe from the harm the fracking industry mightย cause.ย 

โ€œNow that the unit permit was granted it is only a matter of time before Helis applies for a drilling permit at which time Concerned Citizens of St.Tammany Parish will take them to court to stop them,โ€ Casstevens told DeSmogBlog.ย ย 

โ€œThe zoning laws very clearly prevent Helis from fracking in the area they want to,โ€ย Casstevensย said.

The group isย not relying onย the city councilโ€™s lawsuit. They areย preparingย to stop Helisย fromย getting a drilling permit if the parish suitย fails.ย 

โ€œWhile the granting of the unit permit is not as grave as granting a permit to drill, it serves as a reminder of the serious problems with our state laws that are designed to protect profit for a few over the general welfare of theย majority.โ€ Stephanie Houston Grey, an anti-fracking activist, toldย DeSmogBlog.ย 

Stephanieย Houston Grey at an informational meeting on fracking in Mandeville,ย La.

Julie-Dermansky-022
Julie Dermansky is a multimedia reporter and artist based in New Orleans. She is an affiliate scholar at Rutgers Universityโ€™s Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights. Visit her website at www.jsdart.com.

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