Congratulations, St. Tammany Parish residents

You aren't going to be fracked by Helis Oil.  That's great. But let's take a look at what it was that saved you, exactly. 

Was it the vehement organized citizen opposition?  No, that didn't work.

Was it Bobby Jindal's state Department of Natural Resources? Don't make me laugh.

Was it the lawsuit brought to stop DNR issuing a permit? Nope.


Was it a federal environmental impact review by the Corps of Engineers? No, they let it slide too.

So what was it?  At the end of the day, the only thing that Northshore residents have to thank for saving their aquifer from possible contamination is the unprofitable barrenness of their own land.

ST. TAMMANY PARISH -- Helis Oil and Gas sent out a news release Tuesday saying that "following a lengthy review of the geologic, engineering and other data from its exploratory well in rural St. Tammany Parish, Helis Oil & Gas has concluded that it will not proceed with further operations."

The move would bring to an end the controversial project on the Northshore that met with a lot of citizen opposition.

Helis overcame that opposition to get the approval to move forward on the project, however, a few months in, the results were not what the company was hoping to achieve.

"Helis has determined that the prospect lacks appropriate commercial viability so the company will not pursue the project any further. Helis intends to permanently abandon the well and secure the site in accordance with regulatory requirements and its leases," said Greg Beuerman, spokesperson for Helis Oil & Gas.

The lesson is, whatever you do, first make sure you are not commercially viable.  

Keep on frackin'

Don't you just love these heartwarming stories where ordinary citizens come together and organize to protect their community from predatory industry... and lose?

The Louisiana Supreme Court has refused to consider an appeal by St. Tammany Parish and a citizens group challenging a state decision to award a permit to a company that wants to drill near Lakeshore High School, spokesmen said.

By a 4-3 vote, the court refused to hear the appeal, allowing a decision by the First Circuit Court of Appeals to stand. Justices Greg Guidry, Jeannette Theriot Knoll and Marcus Clark dissented. The appeals panel ruled earlier this year that the parish’s zoning ordinances had to be considered, but not followed, by the state when considering the permit application.

The decision effectively ends a nearly two year legal challenge against Helis Oil & Gas’ plans to drill an oil well in a wooded tract northeast of Mandeville. The case pitted the parish against the state’s Commissioner of Conservation, who issued a permit to Helis to drill. The group Concerned Citizens of St. Tammany, which has opposed the well, joined the suit on the side of the parish. Helis also joined on the side of the Commissioner of Conservation.

Most of the time they lose, actually.  Now Helis can look forward to taking advantage of state tax exemptions for drilling and fracking since we already know the legislature will fail to eliminate those.  

Fracked

Helis oil is about to begin its controversial drilling project in St. Tammany Parish.

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.

Meanwhile

Keep on frackin'

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.

Congratulations to Helis Oil.  Hope they enjoy the tax credit we're about to shell out to them with all that money we don't have. 

"Birds and bugs"

This is the second article to appear in our major papers in as many days that trivializes opposition to Hells Oil's proposed northshore fracking operation.  I wonder if Helis got a hold of Fred Heebe's "lobbyist list".

Corps letter asks Helis to think about fracking just a little to the right

Helis says this is a "routine request" but it looks like the Corps is asking them not to drill in an environmentally sensitive area.

Dude, have you seen the prisons in North Carolina?

Dambala is linking to a list of the chemicals used in the hydrofracking process.

Could mean trouble.

Meanwhile... congratulations to WWLTV on finding a "pro-fracking" spokesperson in St. Tammany so we can turn this into another "he said/she said" story.  Nice going. 

No

I hope this answer helps.

BATON ROUGE, LA (WVUE) - 

Dozens of St. Tammany Parish residents showed up at the La. Department of Natural Resources Tuesday to speak out against a proposed oil fracking rig north of Mandeville.

It may have been their only chance before an agency that may ultimately approve the drilling permit.

Some came with children, others carried signs.

"My question is will it be safe?" said opponent John Herasymiuk.

"Don't expect much other than bad times"

Russel Honore speaks to a St. Tammany community meeting about the Helis Oil fracking proposal Sunday. Yesterday the Parish, for all practical purposes, gave Helis the green light to begin work.



Adding: To be clear, the state and not the Parish has to approve Helis's drilling permit although that is likely a fait accompli particularly now that the local officials have approved Helis's "compromise". There is also the issue of a wetlands permit from the Army Corps of Engineers although one imagines that won't be a problem either.

Just the tip

St. Tammany Parish and Helis Oil have reached an agreement.

The proposal by Helis President David Kerstein calls for the company to drill vertically, analyze its data and proceed with horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, only if commercially-viable quantities of oil are present, the parish government said in a news release.

The proposal, which the parish has agreed to, was announced Tuesday afternoon by Parish President Pat Brister, Parish Council Chairman Reid Falconer and state Sen. Jack Donahue. It comes a day after some 300 people, most of whom appeared to be opponents of the fracking project, gathered at the Castine Center near Mandeville to express their concerns and obtain information about Helis' proposal and fracking in general.

So Helis agrees not to spit chemicals into the aquifer until they've made really really sure there's some money in it for them. In which case, everyone is fine with it then.  Is that really what this was all about?