Original Article

By Vickie Welborn

As predicted several years ago, water has become a critical limiting factor as the natural gas industry expands from one shale play to the next, according to Gary Hanson, director of the Red River Watershed Management Institute at LSU-Shreveport.

Hydraulic fracturing is required in all of the gas shale plays and it is crucial that industry continues to work with northwest Louisiana communities and voluntarily use predominantly surface water or the Red River Alluvial Aquifer instead of the limited Carrizo-Wilcox groundwater for fracing.

“By addressing our water concerns in a proactive manner and allowing development to proceed in a responsible way, we are a model to other areas of the country where unfortunately, fear, instead of facts, is driving resistance to shale gas development,” Hanson said.

As a result of Louisiana’s success, Hanson has been invited to several water and energy venues in the Southwest and on the East Coast to share the story and lessons learned. In one of the sessions set next month in Pennsylvania, Hanson will be joined by Lt. Gov. Scott Angelle, state conservation Commissioner Jim Welsh and Mike Mathis of Chesapeake Energy.

Other conferences will be in Houston, Pittsburgh and Baltimore. The Baltimore event in October, sponsored by the Water Research Foundation, is pulling together experts to evaluate water quality concerns related to hydraulic fracturing. One of the speakers will be Robert W. Puls, director of research for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Ground Water and Ecosystem Restoration Division.

“It is a real honor to be asked to participate in this expert workshop formed to evaluate hydraulic fracturing and gas shale development,” Hanson said.

As an example of what other area’s of the nation are facing, Hanson notes in the Marcellus Shale, which stretches into Pennsylvania and New York, poor groundwater aquifers exist and major river systems are being used for well stimulation.

New York has a drilling moratorium in place, and “well-meaning groups have incited the public to a point that regulators and scientists, whom I have spoken with, say it is basically impossible to get out objective facts about gas well drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Their greatest concerns are landscape change, excessive water use and fears that fracing may contaminate their drinking water and environment. Facts, not fear, should drive the development efforts,” Hanson said.

In south Texas, the Eagle Ford play is drawing a lot of interest from the oil and gas industry. It extends 250 miles from southeast of Austin to the Mexican border.

In much of the play, existing deep water wells are being utilized for drilling and stimulation because it’s too expensive to drill water wells. In areas near the border, no groundwater exists, so limited surface water is used. Also, encounters with Mexican drug runners and human traffickers make it dangerous for water transfer specialists to work there.

“Caddo, Bossier, DeSoto and Webster parishes, as well as the Red River Waterway Commission, Sabine River Authority, city of Shreveport, Metropolitan Planning Commission and LSUS should be commended for their efforts to preserve and protect our water resources here in northwest Louisiana,” Hanson said.

The state’s Legislature and Department of Natural Resources acted in a proactive manner by developing groundwater legislation here in Louisiana about six years before the Haynesville boom started. Recent water policies, including the newly adopted surface water use law, are being driven by the Haynesville activity.

However, DNR’s approach shows “institutions that are typically considered rigid and inflexible can in fact become flexible and adaptive with the right leadership,” Hanson added. “In an unprecedented manner, but typical of his hands-on management style, Scott Angelle (interim lieutenant governor) has chaired numerous and lengthy Ground Water Commission meetings throughout the state. This has given Louisiana residents, statewide, the opportunity to attend and have their water concerns heard.”

By: Mark Tapscott
Editorial Page Editor
05/27/10 12:10 PM EDT

Sen. Bob Casey, D-PA, is campaigning against hydraulic fracturing in natural gas drilling by introducing a bill to remove the long-standing exemption in the Safe Drinking Water Act that allows energy companies to use the process.

Hydraulic fracturing – or “fracking,’ as it is more commonly known in the industry – involves injecting liquids, 95 percent of which are water, into rock formations far below the land surface in order to create access to vast quantities of natural gas. Casey’s home state of Pennsylvania has a major portion of one of the country’s largest undeveloped natural gas resources, the Marcellus Shale Formation.

The Marcellus Shale Formation covers 34 million acres. in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia and Kentucky. The formation is estimated to hold as much as $7 trillion in recoverable natural gas, “enough to pay off the national debt,” according to Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-PA.

But Casey has joined environmental extremists in government and the liberal non-profit activism community in a national campaign to stop the use of fracking. The process has been used more than a million times in the past half century, especially in Texas and Oklahoma where it was first utilized.

Casey says fracking “often occurs near underground sources of drinking water and involves the use of pollutants that may contaminate the water, such as salt, arsenic, and heavy metals.”

The issue is especailly relevant to Pennsylvania, according to Casey, “because we have the second highest number of private wells for drinking water in the nation. My priority is to protect the health and safety of Pennsylvanians as we develop the Marcellus.”

So he’s introduced the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act to repeal the long-standing Clean Water Act exemption that allows fracking.

But somebody should explain to the senator that fracking is done thousands of feet below the ground water level, which is probably why there isn’t a single proven example of ground water contamination caused by fracking.

As for the presence of salt, arsenic and heavy metals, Casey could easily enough check the list of ingredients commonly used in fracking by going to the Pennsylvania Department of Environment Protection site, the industry-backed Energy in Depth web site, and the U.S. Department of Energy web site.

At those sites, Casey will learn that none of the three substances he listed are used in fracking.

So why is a U.S. senator pushing legislation based on so clearly mistaken assumptions?

Those are not the only inaccurate assumptions behind Casey’s bill. Energy in Depth details the rest of this story here.

Sen. Casey has been asked for a response to this post.

By Nicholas McCrea

May 02, 2010

Original Article

At a public forum in DeWitt, Syracuse University hydrology professor Don Siegel thought he had presented enough unbiased, scientific information to prove that drilling for natural gas in New York would benefit the state far more than it might hurt.

Then someone in the audience of more than 75 stood up.

“With all due respect, Dr. Siegel,” she said, “it’s not about the science.”

Two months later, Siegel still stews over those words.

The debate should be about the science, he contends, as do two retired SU professors, Bryce Hand and Joe Robinson — who have defended high-volume hydraulic fracturing as a safe method to capture a huge supply of underground natural gas in the Marcellus Shale formation.

But opponents of hydrofracking have “dispensed with science and rely on fear” to turn the public against drilling, Siegel said.

The voices of scientists are being drowned out, the professors said.

“What I’m finding is that no matter how you make the argument about shale bed methane to the local community, they refuse to understand it or refuse to even consider it,” said Siegel, a 62-year-old Syracuse resident.

Hydrofracking opponents like Dereth Glance, executive program director for Citizens Campaign for the Environment, say the gas industry is pushing New York to permit large-scale hydrofracking before the state formulates regulations that will adequately protect the environment.

“It’s about science, it’s about policy, and it’s about precautionary principles,” Glance said.

But Siegel said environmental groups have been doing everything in their power to block what he believes is the best solution to avoid a far worse environmental problem.

For Siegel, who considers himself an environmentalist, climate change is looming large. He said switching to natural gas, the cleanest of the fossil fuels, could help slow its approach by cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 17 percent. It would satiate New York’s energy needs until alternative energy sources become more viable.

Robinson, Siegel and Hand said they are perplexed that people continue to fight wind farms, nuclear power plants, and other forms of alternative energy, while at the same time resisting natural gas drilling.

“You can’t stop the climate crisis from happening by doing nothing,” Siegel said. “It’s easy to say ‘No, no, no, no,’ but we’ve got a clean energy source right under our feet.”

State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis said last month in Syracuse that he expects the DEC to issue its revised regulations on hydrofracking later this year and begin issuing permits by 2011.

But state Assemblyman Steve Englebright, a former curator of Geologic Collections at State University at Stony Brook, where he also earned a master’s degree in sedimentology/paleontology, is sponsoring a bill calling for a moratorium on hydrofracking in New York until after the Environmental Protection Agency completes a two-year study on its environmental impact.

Englebright isn’t the only one who wants to slow the natural gas rush.

“Not here. Not now. But not never,” said Tony Ingraffea, a Cornell University engineering professor who specializes in fracture mechanics and wants the state to conduct more research, strengthen its hydrofracking regulations and improve its enforcement capabilities.

Horizontal hydraulic fracturing involves drilling into the shale — at least 2,000 feet below ground — then turning the drill horizontally to continue the well, or several horizontal wells, from the vertical bore. Piping is fed into the well and encased in cement.

After that, the shale is fractured and a fluid mixture of about 99 percent water and sand, and 1 percent chemicals is pumped into the well. The sand holds open the fractures so gas can seep into the well. The chemicals usually act as thickeners and lubricants, allowing the fluid to work its way through the fissures.

The pressure of the thousands of feet of earth and rock above forces the gas and some of the fracking fluid into the well casing, where it’s extracted.

Among the concerns critics most frequently raise are the potential risk to groundwater supplies, the scarring of the natural landscape and degradation of roadways, but some scientists say many of those concerns have been sensationalized.

Opponents point to Dimock, Pa., a town 100 miles south of Syracuse, where hydrofracking is occurring. Recently, , the Department of Environmental Protection ordered Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. to pay fines and plug three wells that the DEP believes led to methane contaminating the drinking water of 14 Dimock homes. Cabot must also install permanent water treatment systems at each of those homes.”

Siegel, Hand and Robinson, a petroleum geologist, acknowledge that high-volume hydrofracking is not without risks.

But Hand, a sedimentologist who taught for 30 years at SU before retiring in 1999, said many of the concerns are being “overblown.”

“In every basin, there might be one or two accidents out of tens of thousands of wells,” Siegel said. He guessed that Cabot made a mistake when pumping the concrete that surrounds the well piping, allowing gas to seep up outside the casing and eventually travel into the 14 homes’ water supply.

However, he said he has not been able to find any data from Pennsylvania DEP about the water contamination or drilling mishap, which he would like the independent scientific community to be able to evaluate for itself.

He said Pennsylvania DEP’s reaction to this “atypical, rare” mishap should be encouraging to New York, as it will push other companies to not repeat Cabot’s mistakes and will improve the drilling process.Some scientists say New York should take great care and time before allowing extensive drilling.

During an April 22 Thursday Morning Roundtable session, Bruce Selleck, professor of geology at Colgate University, said he was “comforted” by the state’s caution in issuing drilling permits. He said the state should learn from drilling that’s happening in other places.

“In a way, New York is very lucky that Pennsylvania has been bleeding on the cutting edge of technology development for hydrofracking,” Selleck said.

Selleck suggested that before New York issues permits for drilling throughout the state, it should use an isolated area of the Southern Tier. as a testing ground. That would let the state assess the effects on the local environment.

Hand, Siegel and Robinson say some hydrofracking opponents are exaggerating the risk to water supplies posed by chemical additives that make up around 1 percent of the fracking fluids.

The professors said these chemicals range from common food additives to acids. The additives used vary from well to well. Robinson said the chemicals are so diluted that they wouldn’t pose a significant risk, and many of them dissolve underground and become harmless before gas companies bring fluids back to the surface.

Critics argue that since the fluids are used in such high volumes, usually a few million gallons per well, the chemicals can still be harmful.

Hydrofracking opponents also say the environment could be damaged by the high salt content in the fluid that flows back up the well after the drilling process. This flowback fluid is stored in surface pits at the well sites until it can be disposed of or reused in a new well.

A tear in the liners of these pits might lead to spills that find their way into local water supplies, causing the salt content to rise to unacceptable levels, Siegel acknowledged.

Siegel said the state lacks facilities to treat the saline flowback fluids. These facilities would need to be set up, or the state would need to allow the fluids to be stored in deep injection wells.

The SU professors agree that hydrofracking needs to be heavily regulated and that the DEC needs more staff to do this effectively.

“We really don’t have to be in any enormous rush,” said Hand, who said that even though he felt the concerns were overblown, he was comfortable with the state taking its time. “The gas will still be there, it’ll always be there, until we get it out.”

By Dr. Scott Cline

March 16, 2010

Original Article

Through the smoke of near financial ruin, we now see dimly and will soon see clearly the revival and structural shift of America. A revival not arising from the machinations of politicians, financial stimulus, funny money or any other artifact of de-stabilizing financial creativity but rather in large part through the coming natural gas revolution. A revolution propelled by ingenuity, technological genius, persistence and creativity that has unlocked the tightly held mother-lode beneath us. While we busily worried about financial ruin, debated how we would survive the end of abundant energy, stressed over how we could transition to renewable energy sources, history changed course and quickly unfolded before us in surprising, mysterious and miraculous ways.

Heretofore unimagined technologies have now thrust themselves upon human history that will permit the safe extraction of this relatively clean domestic energy resource from the tight grip of the earth. The sheer abundance will also provide long-term downward price pressure on energy making the structural shift even more compelling. Miraculously America sits atop much of those resources and the fruits of that extraction will once again help propel America to energy prosperity and security. Dominant global competitive advantage, jobs, tax revenue and prosperity may result for many generations to come. Dire predictions of the collapse of the American Empire and a shift of power to the East from notable writers such as Niall Ferguson and others permeate our news stories. Nonsense! We stand at the cross road of an historical shift of power: but it is not to the East, it is a gathering force rising up from within us.

OPEC and BRIC countries already shudder. Natural gas and petroleum companies themselves only now begin to understand and whisper among themselves about the natural gas energy tidal wave to come. Tony Hayward, CEO of British Petroleum only recently dared to say in Davos Switzerland (January 2010) that “new technologies to extract gas from shale rock have altered the U.S. energy outlook for the next 100 years.” “(It’s) a complete game-changer in the U.S.” Peter Voser, chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell echoes similar sentiments and James Mulva of ConocoPhillips is already looking beyond shale gas and shocking the world with news that it and others are in the early stages of technology development to extract the so-called methane hydrates, an offshore frozen form of gas with potential up to 100 times or more the vast shale gas resources.” Though America is not the only nation with shale gas, we do have the largest reserves and we are far ahead of the world in its development thus ensuring competitive advantage.

Many recent lectures, discussions and comments by New Yorkers concerned about shale gas development continue. But fears of environmental ruin, undrinkable water, pollution and the like are largely unfounded, exaggerated and commingled with uninformed concerns about processes not unique to shale gas development. Horizontal drilling and stimulation is safe. The only legitimate concern has been the disposal, transport, treating and recycling of large flow-back water volume. Good news! Industry has already largely solved those problems. While the public still debates and frets, industry has been busy and is already quickly approaching near 100% reuse and recycling of waste water through high technology filtering and treatment technologies using relatively little energy.

While natural gas is not the perfect answer to a carbon free utopia, it is the best we currently have. It will provide an abundant and inexpensive bridge fuel and will soon make significant inroads in both electrical generation and transportation at the expense of other less clean fuels most notably oil and coal. Natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel with no SO2, mercury or particulates, 80% less NOx and 50% less carbon dioxide than coal and 30% less than oil. Those saying that natural gas use has not risen as fast as expected since 1975 forget that the historical impediment to substitution has been the perception of lack of adequate natural gas supply. Now that supply is assured, substitution and structural change in both electrical generation and transportation will inevitably accelerate and natural gas will quickly displace coal and oil in the energy mix. It is an impending revolution.

This has overwhelming implications for NY too. Recent assertions that the potential NY contribution to the ultimate US gas supply is negligible and thus not worth developing now are based on “old reserve estimates.” Already companies are raising their gas reserves estimates so that the previous high-side seemingly improbable estimates are becoming the more likely scenario. NY alone may have up to 160 TCF (7 years total current US natural gas consumption) of shale gas reserves in the Marcellus alone and possibly even more in the Utica shale. Over time, the potential economic impact to NY alone would be enormous possibly totaling nearly a trillion NY generated dollars of ultimate revenue generated, over a hundred billion dollars in royalty to New York land owners and an economic multiplier effect to the entire economy. Stories that the bonanza is short lived and will benefit the relatively few are also highly exaggerated. It is an economic force that can not be ignored by New Yorkers, that can be developed safely and the pace of development will be measured and self limiting because of the long term downward price pressure.

Just when many thought the terrible “Black Swan” event had arrived in the form of the unexpected financial meltdown, simultaneous scarce energy and high prices, the real Black Swan turned out to be beautiful and more unexpected than perhaps any event in recent history! I have the utmost confidence that our NY DEC, guided by the 13,000+ strong New Yorker comments to an already admirable dSGEIS, will issue a final set of supplemental oil and gas regulations that will be the example for the nation to follow as the shale gas revolution accelerates.

Once and for all let us use this miraculous God given natural gas bridge fuel to develop the carbon-free sources of the distant future. Their time will come but for now and many generations to come it is the age of natural gas.

November 14, 2009

Water solutions reached in Haynesville Shale play

By Vickie Welborn
vwelborn@gannett.com

About a year ago, Haynesville Shale Expo speaker Gary Hanson talked about the problems ahead for water resource management in wake of the explosion of the shale play.

On Friday, Hanson talked about solutions that have been reached. “There’s been a paradigm shift in the past few months in how the industry looks at water and it started here.”

Hanson’s PowerPoint presentation — one of four during afternoon breakout sessions in the second annual expo — drew a moderate crowd. The director of the LSU-Shreveport Red River Watershed Management Institute shared how important water is to the shale development.

Up to 7 million gallons can be used to stimulate the deep natural gas deposit, and that demand put the industry into competition with residential and commercial users. “A water market has developed in the Haynesville Shale,” Hanson said.

But the push was on to make sure the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer, a poorly defined underground water source that serves most of northwest Louisiana, was not the companies’ only option. During the past year, lakes, rivers and private ponds have emerged as primary sources, with private pond building becoming a popular alternative. Recycled and treated wastewater are emerging as other potential sources.

And permits are being issued on a regular basis by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to companies that choose to pump water out of the Red River. Hanson complimented the oil and gas companies for taking heed of the water worries and implementing programs focused on surface water sources.

Chesapeake Energy, for example, uses 95 percent surface water in its drilling operations, and Petrohawk has utilized 100 percent surface water with its rigs this year.

“They made it a strict policy,” he said of Petrohawk. Exco Resources and EnCana Oil & Gas (USA) also were singled out. Some companies pressured each other to “do the right thing.”

“The companies are working well with us and they are working well together. “» We needed that credibility with the public,” Hanson said.

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20091114/NEWS01/911140321/1060

LOCAL TEACHERS LEARN ABOUT LOUISIANA’S ENERGY RESOURCES

EnCana Oil & Gas, NEED host energy education workshop

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Mary Anthony
318-210-1736

SHREVEPORT – EnCana Oil & Gas (USA) and the National Energy Education Development
(NEED), a nonprofit education association dedicated to promoting an energy-conscious and
educated society, have partnered to energize area teachers (K-12) during a one-day teacher
workshop.
NEED instructors led more than 50 teachers from Red River, DeSoto, Caddo and Bossier school
districts through experiments and interactive activities to educate them about energy and more
importantly, how to teach it. The session covered the science of energy, fossil fuels, Louisiana
energy resources, and the importance of energy efficiency and conservation.
As part of the workshop, each teacher received a NEED curriculum kit that included a guide to
teaching about energy and helpful resources to take back to their classrooms, including
equipment for hands-on classroom experiments. The session also included tips, tools and
information on teacher networks to help integrate energy education into the classroom.
EnCana funded the workshop, allowing teachers to attend at no cost, receive reimbursement for
a substitute teacher and take home a NEED curriculum kit. The workshop took place at Bossier
Parish Community College.
“Changes in energy development are happening quickly, yet sometimes there is little curriculum
devoted to energy education in the classroom,” said Deborah West, team lead for community
relations at EnCana. “Through partnering with an excellent organization like NEED, we are able
to provide teachers with information that is objective, current and integrated with local curriculum
guidelines. We hope the workshop provides a strong foundation of energy knowledge for
teachers so they can take it back and share it with their students in a dynamic, informative way.”
About National Energy Education Development
Founded in 1980, the National Energy Education Development Project (NEED) is dedicated to
promoting an energy conscious and educated society by creating effective networks of students,
educators, business, government and community leaders to design and deliver objective, multisided
energy education programs.
About EnCana Oil & Gas (USA)
EnCana Corporation is a leading North American energy company headquartered in Calgary.
EnCana operates in the United States under its subsidiary, EnCana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc.
EnCana’s Dallas office coordinates operations for Texas and Louisiana with six field offices
located in Texas and one in Coushatta, Louisiana.

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20091019/SPECIALPROJECTS02/910190315
October 19, 2009

Ponds are big business for some DeSoto Parish landowners

By Vickie Welborn
vwelborn@gannett.com

MANSFIELD — It’s not often that a dirt contractor says he’s glad it’s raining. But Dennis Bell was among the few who didn’t mind last week’s rain.

Because every drop that might have kept him from a job was serving another purpose: filling up the many ponds that Bell has constructed for himself and others. One at his home on state Highway 522 east of Mansfield was practically dry before the deluge. After a few days, it was brimming to the point of discharging the runoff.

The water won’t stay there long, though. Bell is one of a handful of DeSoto residents who saw an opportunity to make money with the explosion of the Haynesville Shale natural gas development in the area. And ponds are the answer.

Oil and gas companies estimate that up to 4 million gallons of water are needed to fracture the underground formation so natural gas can be extracted. With so many wells being drilled and thousands of more promised over the life of the shale, those companies are looking for as many water sources as possible. Surface water offered by ponds, streams, rivers and lakes are being promoted as an alternate to the troublesome aquifers.

Bell said the idea struck him after he was approached by an oil and gas company about purchasing water in a pond on his property. “I’m fortunate enough to have some pretty good sized ponds. After we were approached, I could just see this coming, and I started preparing a little bit along with a lot of other people. It wasn’t necessarily anything I did; it just happened.”

Bell got to work cleaning out two small ponds, and he built another one. He also created ponds on his mother’s property and at his rock crushing yard north of Mansfield.

“And I’ve built them for some people “» and other people are doing the same. So it’s really been a good economic impact for a lot of us around here, just on the water end,” Bell said.

So with all of the ponds popping up all over DeSoto Parish, worry set in among some of the landowners when they learned the DeSoto Parish Police Jury was considering selling water out of Clear/Smithport Lake to oil and gas interests. The Police Jury for months has been attempting to get a clear opinion from the state attorney general’s office on water ownership rights of the sister lakes.

Absent that, Assistant District Attorney Gary Evans last month issued his own opinion, stating that the lake water was owned by the state of Louisiana. But since a mechanism is not in place to handle water sales, Evans suggested the Police Jury, as a political subdivision of the state, set a price for the water and set up an escrow account for the proceeds, which would be divvied out once the state formally weighs in with an opinion. Police jurors want to see the money reinvested into the lake that is overrun with aquatic growth and in dire need of improvement.

But pond builders fear the Police Jury’s plan would put them in competition. Property owner Sims Calhoun, who is building a large pond on state Highway 509 near Interstate 49, told police jurors at a recent meeting that he and others oppose the sale of water from the lake.

“We’ve spent so much money,” Calhoun said. “I hope y’all will rethink this.”

The Police Jury never meant to go into competition with private citizens, President Dewayne Mitchell said. He assured Calhoun the Police Jury only wanted to sell water from the lake if there were no other sources available.

Police jurors were set to vote on the issue last week, but declined to do so. The issue is back on today’s special meeting agenda.

There is money to be made selling water. Exact amounts vary per source. For example, Calhoun said he gets 25 cents per barrel. The Police Jury set a 30-cent per-barrel fee for the lake water.

Bell estimates it costs the oil and gas companies 46 to 55 cents per barrel if it has to be trucked. So cheaper sources are what companies seek.

Ponds can be expensive to construct; the price is hard to nail down, though. Bell said it depends upon the land’s contour and how big of a levee must be built. “It could be as much as a $50,000 difference, so it’s hard to say.”

He admits, though, that he is making money selling water. One company drained one pond and he has contracts with other companies for water in the other ponds, all of which are replenished by run-off water.

The state does not regulate ponds but earlier this year the Department of Natural Resources did issue an advisory to governing bodies and legislators informing them about reports that individual water well owners may be using the wells to fill ponds and then sell the water commercially to oil and gas operators.

Groundwater produced from domestic water wells for that purpose “may be in violation of state law and regulations,” Commissioner of Conservation James H. Welsh said in the Jan. 12 memo. “Water well owners found to have violated these state laws and regulations may be subject to agency enforcement actions, including assessment of civil penalties.”

Bell said he is not aware of any taking place. Water wells in some areas of DeSoto Parish are so sporadic that he’s doubtful any could fill a pond at a rate to keep up with the demand.

At a recent meeting in Shreveport, David Lofton, chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit section, said he is unaware of any problems the ponds have created in the Haynesville Shale region. But he suggested the Corps — or another agency such as the local Soil and Water Conservation District — should be involved early in the design phase of any plans to build a structure for water storage.

Of concern is any adverse impact to wetlands or streams. Anytime dredge and fill material is used in connection with any waters of the U.S. it can be considered a wetland issue. “It would be a good idea to coordinate with the Corps well in advance,” Loftin said.

Building a pond doesn’t necessarily require a permit. “But we would have to look at the area — because wetlands are dynamic certain times of years. All kinds of things can affect that,” said Ken Mosley, chief of the Corps’ enforcement division.

The Corps relies “heavily” upon the public to report any problem areas.

Bell said he is using his years of experience in building the ponds. He’s not sought any outside advice. But he has heard the talk about the possibility of permits eventually being required.

“This is an opportunity for a lot of people around here, not just me. These landowners building ponds and selling water are spending money back in the community,” Bell said.

Additional Facts

The DeSoto Parish Police Jury will meet in special session at 5 p.m. today in its meeting room.
The agenda calls for more discussion on selling water from Clear/Smithport Lake at 30 cents per barrel and a resolution to set up an escrow account for the funds, consideration of a strategic plan proposal and discussion of a road use ordinance.
The road use ordinance was proposed at last week’s meeting but deferred for further study. It proposes requiring permits from heavy truck operators and sets bond payment amounts to recover damages to roadways and bridges. Amounts in the proposal range from $100,000 for culverts to $1 million for roads and bridges. The proposal already has drawn opposition from oil and gas companies.
The meeting is open to the public.

By Vickie Welborn
vwelborn@gannett.com

Few argue that Louisiana needs a comprehensive water plan, Sabine River Authority Executive Director Jim Pratt said. That’s one of the primary needs that came out of a Ground Water Resources Commission meeting held in March in Minden.

And proposed legislation winding through the Legislature could impact the Sparta Aquifer.

HB829 introduced by state Rep. Patrick Page Cortez, R-Lafayette, transfers responsibility of groundwater resources and well drillers from the Department of Transportation and Development to the Department of Natural Resources. The bill has been assigned to the House Natural Resources Committee.

HB743 authorized by state Rep. Andy Anders, D-Vidalia, creates the state water management policy advisory task force. It, too, has been assigned to the House Natural Resources Committee.

But more committees are not the answer, Pratt said in response to Anders’ proposed bill.

SRA board Chairman Larry Kelly of Sabine Parish was prepared two weeks ago to testify against the measure before a House committee when it was pulled from the agenda.

Gary Hanson, director of the LSU-S Red River Watershed Management Institute and chairman of the Northwest Louisiana Water Resources Committee, also has questions about whether another task force is needed. But if one focused on ground water and the other surface water, the state could move closer to a comprehensive water plan, he said.

Hanson also serves on the Ground Water Management Advisory Task Force, which falls under the Ground Water Resources Commission. An attempt on April 14 to hold a meeting of the group was unsuccessful because a quorum did not attend.

“I don’t know why all of this needs to be studied again. We know all of the answers. We don’t need to start over again,” Hanson said. “We really need a water resource department, but I don’t know if that will ever happen. It would help if there was only one agency to enforce.”

Cortez’s bill to move water responsibilities from DOTD to DNR is a “pretty big deal,” Hanson said, adding that he wasn’t arguing for or against the proposal. “But if that’s what has to happen to get something going on surface water then it’s needed. I’m glad to see some type of legislation finally getting through.”

What’s happening in Baton Rouge won’t get in the way of efforts in northwest Louisiana to ensure quality water, which started five or more years ago.

A new kink developed in recent months with the rapid movement of the Haynesville Shale natural gas activity. Suddenly, untold numbers of oil and gas operators also are competing for water sources.

With millions of gallons of water needed per well for the completions process, concern grew among folks like Ida Mayor “Smokie” Maddox whose village was unsuccessfully in a half-dozen attempts to find an alternate deep-water well to supply customers, and Keithville residents such as William DuBose, who has complained at public meetings that his well is dry most of the time.

The growing strain on this region’s Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer — whether from agricultural users in north Caddo or natural gas well operations on the south end — gets the blame, right or wrong. The Carrizo-Wilcox differs in makeup from the Sparta Aquifer that extends from extreme north Bossier across Webster Parish and eastward.

Ben Magee, supervisory hydrologist at the U.S. Geological Survey Louisiana Water Science Center, ranks the Sparta as the most troublesome. But those who depend on the low-yielding Carrizo-Wilcox, which he ranks as No. 2, are just as worried.

Five monitoring wells were installed last year in Caddo Parish to track levels of the Carrizo-Wilcox. The Caddo Commission has authorized placement of five more. The locations are being worked out between Hanson, who will monitor them, and Caddo Commission Public Works Director Robert Glass.

Meanwhile, Caddo, Bossier and DeSoto officials are forming a regional utilities district to address water and sewer needs. Bossier City’s in about two months will start an $80 million expansion project to double capacity from the Red River. Utilities Director Bryan Kauffer said Bossier is set for “the next 20 years or so.”

The picture is different around Bossier Parish. The Police Jury is not involved in water administration, but it is aware of pressing water issues, particularly the gas exploration.

DeSoto Parish draws its supply from Toledo Bend Reservoir.

But with capacity near maximum, waterworks board members are doubling the plant size. The DeSoto Police Jury has agreed to loan money to complete the project, which could be finished this year.

Shreveport has bulk stations where it can sell large volumes of water to oil and gas operators. As long as their needs, estimated at millions of gallons per well, are spread out over time, the city is in good shape.

Groundwater sources would be unable to sustain large areas of population growth. Even in the 1970s and 1980s, discussion of the need to eventually shift to surface water was in the picture.

That’s why Shreveport officials have been working with neighbors and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in studying the Red River as a resource, even though Shreveport currently draws from Cross Lake. Caddo Lake via Twelve Mile Bayou is a supplemental source during summer months.

Meanwhile, the Caddo Commission is moving forward with its various water studies. U.S. Sen. David Vitter put $2 million in a water resources bill in 2007 for a water study, but it fell out of appropriations last year. U.S. Rep. John Fleming is working to get it back in the 2010 budget.

The funds would enable the completion of a feasibility study to evaluate water treatment facilities on the Red River. The study has been expanded beyond its original scope to consider the regional water resources picture.

As always, money will be the key. But it’s a commitment most officials see as a must.

http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20090518/NEWS01/905170332/1002/Proposed+legislation+could+impact+the+Sparta+Aquifer