Source: The Times-Picayune, April 21, 2015
Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com
Fracking opponents suffered a major defeat Monday morning when a state judge ruled St. Tammany Parish cannot use its zoning regulations to block a proposed oil drilling and fracking project northeast of Mandeville. Judge William Morvant of the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge said parish regulations cannot trump state law and that the Department of Natural Resources’ Office of Conservation is the sole regulator of oil and gas drilling in Louisiana.
The much-anticipated ruling, coming after a year of controversy over the project, does not mean Helis Oil & Gas Co. of New Orleans is free to start drilling, however.
An appeal is likely to be filed, and Helis still needs a wetlands permit from the Army Corps of Engineers before it could begin work.
“Clearly the court gave this a great deal of consideration … ,” Helis spokesman Greg Beuerman said immediately after the nearly one-hour hearing. “He came to a very strong conclusion that energy issues in Louisiana are governed and permitted by the state of Louisiana, and that the parish does not have a right to prohibit or interfere with that permitting process.”
Beuerman said he hopes the ruling would allow the project to move closer to reality but said the parish government might appeal the decision and “throw good money after bad.”
St. Tammany Parish Council Chairman Richard Tanner, who attended the hearing along with council members Jake Groby and Reid Falconer, indicated the council would likely appeal.
Groby called on his council colleagues and citizens to continue the fight. “This is the beginning of the industrialization of St. Tammany, and I am asking the citizens to get off the couch, stand with us and defend their home. We won’t get just one (well), we’re going to get dozens, if not hundreds of these things. Is that what we want to leave our children and our grandchildren?”
Morvant ruled on two primary points in the case: a state law regarding the regulation of oil and gas activities in Louisiana, and a statute covering the relationship between local master plans, or zoning, and state government.
The judge outlined the statute on oil and gas, which says a permit from the Department of Natural Resources’ Office of Conservation is sufficient authorization for the holder to enter a property and drill. “No other agency or political subdivision of the state shall have the authority and they are hereby expressly forbidden to prohibit or in any way interfere with the drilling of a well or test well in search of minerals by the holder of such permit,” he read.
“I don’t know if … a statute can get more expressed than that,” Morvant said.
Regarding local zoning or master plans, Morvant cited a law that says state agencies and departments shall “consider” those plans in making decisions. St. Tammany Parish took the position that the state had to “adhere” to local rules, he said.
“I respectfully disagree with that interpretation,” the judge said.
Carl Conrad, an attorney representing St. Tammany Parish government, said the ruling did not surprise him. He said the law calling on state agencies to consider parishes’ master plans is an “unconstructed statute” that courts have not ruled on previously.
“It was nothing that any court had ever made a decision on. There was no guidance.”
Marianne Cufone, an attorney for Concerned Citizens of St. Tammany, said: “Obviously, we’re disappointed. I think there were several ways to interpret the law that’s out there, but the judge’s interpretation was not our interpretation.”
Regarding oil and gas regulation, Cufone said she cited a previous court ruling that said the state governs drilling and parishes govern land use and zoning, and those two are not in conflict. But the judge cited a different precedent that stated the opposite, she said.
“Effectively what just happened is that all of Louisiana’s zoning and land use laws are now subject to DNR and essentially you could put an oil and gas drilling well in the middle of the city of Baton Rouge … .”
St. Tammany Parish government filed a lawsuit last summer against Commissioner of Conservation James Welsh and the DNR in an effort to block the proposed drilling, which many people oppose due to environmental concerns. Concerned Citizens of St. Tammany, which opposes fracking, and Helis Oil were brought in as parties to the lawsuit.
The suit maintained the parish’s zoning ordinances prohibit drilling at the site, which is zoned for residential use. Moreover, the state Office of Conservation cannot adequately manage more oil wells in Louisiana, and the parish has the authority to ban fracking, according to the lawsuit.
But the state and Helis has argued that St. Tammany’s regulations cannot supersede the broad authority given to the Office of Conservation to regulate oil and gas activities.
“This is a very simple case,” Helis attorney Paul Jones told the court Monday. Helis has a permit to drill, and St. Tammany Parish wants to stop it, he said.
“The law says they can’t do so. It’s that simple.”
Helis, of New Orleans, wants to drill an exploratory well on undeveloped land it has under lease just north of Interstate 12 and east of Louisiana 1088 northeast of Mandeville. If the well data is promising, it would then seek state and federal approval to drill horizontally and use the controversial hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, process to fracture the shale formation and release oil for extraction, the company said.
Many citizens and some elected officials oppose the project due to concerns about pollution of the ground, air and the aquifer that supplies the parish’s drinking water. Opponents have expressed concerned about the industrialization of the parish and the lowering of property values.
Others, including the North Shore Business Council, support the project, saying it can be done safely and would be good for the local and state economy.
Helis has argued it can drill for oil without harming the environment and agreed to take measures that go beyond what is required by law to safeguard St. Tammany Parish.
In a statement, St. Tammany Parish President Pat Brister said: “Local decisions are always the most efficient and effective way to govern. However, the court has ruled that state permitting laws have precedence over our local comprehensive zoning ordinance. The court has given us an answer about where state’s authority ends and where St. Tammany’s began.”