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Assumption Parish authorities dealing with a growing, 4-acre sinkhole in the Bayou Corne area scheduled a community meeting at 10 a.m. Saturday to provide information on planned natural gas venting and positioning of geo-probes on private property.

John Boudreaux, director of the parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said Thursday officials hope to show the public a photograph of such probes, which he said do take up some space.

The probes, which are polyvinyl chloride pipes driven about 50 to 60 feet into the ground with landowners’ consent, are being used to monitor for subsurface natural gas in the vicinity of Bayou Corne.

“We’re going to try to cover everything, but we’re probably going to focus on that,” Boudreaux said.

Indications of natural gas have been found in an aquifer beneath the Bayou Corne area northwest of the Napoleonville Dome. The aquifer is located in strata overlying the top of the dome. Natural gas, in addition to its presence in the aquifer, also has been found in caprock crowning the dome, a solid salt deposit.

The Louisiana Department of Natural Resources has ordered the Napoleonville Dome’s seven operators to find and vent off any gas. The agency also is working with contractor Shaw Environmental on observation wells northwest of the dome that could be used to eventually vent off the gas.

The sinkhole was discovered early on Aug. 3 in swamps between the Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou areas on property owned by Texas Brine Co., parish officials said in a blog post.

The sinkhole, which DNR officials think was caused by a failed Texas Brine salt cavern, has forced the evacuation of residents in 150 households in those areas.

The cavern was hollowed out of the 1-mile by 3-mile Napoleonville Dome after nearly three decades of use for brine production. The dome is a solid salt formation that emerged from deeper deposits left by ancient seas and has been used for oil and gas exploration, brine production and hydrocarbon storage for decades.

The sinkhole is not directly over the cavern, but offset to the northwest about 200 feet.

The community meeting will be held outdoors under a tent at the Sportsman’s Landing boat launch on La. 70 South in Bayou Corne, barring inclement weather.

Boudreaux said parish officials would designate a new meeting location on the parish blog, if the weather requires it, at http://assumptionla.wordpress.com/.

During a meeting earlier this week and after calls from activists for weekly meetings, Assumption Parish President Martin “Marty” Triche promised to hold weekly community meetings to update residents on what has been happening with the sinkhole and related matters.

Officials also are trying to determine the sources of natural gas releases in area bayous as well as tremors that preceded and have followed the sinkhole’s emergence.

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At first glance, threats to the nation’s freshwater might seem less urgent and less important than many of the other economic and foreign policy challenges facing our politicians and policymakers. After all, clean and inexpensive water continues to flow from our taps. Yet front page stories on the devastating drought across America’s Great Plains, increased prices for corn, grains, and other agricultural products, and growing conflicts between energy producers and local communities over water are evidence for why we can no longer take our water for granted. Safe and adequate freshwater resources are central to the health of our economy and communities, and to the foreign policy and security of the United States, but we are failing to manage our water for future generations. Unless we understand and tackle our water problems, we will be faced with rapidly growing economic, political, and public health consequences. Here are four of the most important national water challenges that the next administration will have to tackle — these and other problems and solutions, are described in detail in this new book.

The nation’s freshwater supply and quality are threatened by overuse, mismanagement, and contamination. As a whole, the United States is a relatively water-rich country. But our water is unevenly distributed and used, and despite 40 years of the Clean Water Act, it is increasingly contaminated by inadequately regulated and managed industrial and agricultural activities. Much of our water is used wastefully and ineffectively, in part because of the lack of coherent and integrated national water policy. While many water challenges are local, and must be addressed locally, national water policies are also needed to protect public and environmental health. Two dozen different federal agencies have some kind of responsibility for managing and protecting water, but they do not work together in an effective or coordinated manner. Our tap-water quality and the health of our rivers and lakes are not as well protected as they should be. Decisions about energy policy are made without considering the implications for water, leading to growing conflicts in rural communities over access to, and contamination of, local water supplies. Farmers get mixed signals about how to use water, leading to overdraft of groundwater and inefficient irrigation in many areas of the country.

Our national water challenges are part of a broader set of global water problems. Basic water services, including safe and affordable drinking water and sanitation, are still unavailable for between two and three billion people around the world. Surprisingly, however, some of those people are here in the United States. More rural communities are finding their local water supplies to be contaminated with industrial or agricultural pollutants like nitrates, perchlorate, hexavalent chromium, or other contaminants that are un- or inadequately regulated. The failure to provide basic water services to all has direct and indirect public health and economic ramifications for the U.S. We must ensure that all Americans have access to safe and affordable drinking water, and at the same time, we stand to gain substantial international goodwill if we use our technological and economic strengths to help provide clean water and sanitation globally. Many of the world’s most active community and non-governmental water organizations are based in the United States and the nation as a whole can play a leading role in addressing these problems, by redirecting foreign aid budgets and in encouraging international aid organizations to refocus efforts toward meeting basic water needs.

Water-related problems also threaten our national security. In our globally integrated economy, water problems in other countries reverberate back home. Political insecurity and instability is growing in regions where access to freshwater is a problem, including especially in North Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia, with growing concerns about tensions in the central Asian republics. Less predictable hot spots are also likely to appear and there are growing reports of violence and political disruption over water shortages in parts of Africa. Just this month the BBC reported that over 100 people have died in conflicts between farmers and cattle herders over land and water in Kenya. Because conflicts over water contribute to broader political tensions and conflicts, diplomatic efforts to reduce the risks of conflict must now include an environmental component. Furthermore, military preparedness should include an improved understanding and analysis of the threats associated with water.

To their credit, the U.S. intelligence and security communities are beginning to pay attention to water as a factor in threats to our national security, as noted in the most recent Intelligence Community Intelligence Community Assessment on global water resources from the Defense Intelligence Agency, but more attention should also be given to the best ways to reduce international risks of conflict over water scarcity and contamination and to protect our domestic water system from terrorism.

Climate change will have direct impacts on U.S. water resources. As this year’s brutal drought, extreme summer temperatures, and violent weather have made clear, global climate changes are already occurring. Many of these impacts will intensify in coming years, and many of them will have direct implications for our water resources. Climate changes will alter rainfall patterns, increase water demands, raise the cost of food in our markets, increase the probability and consequences of both extreme droughts and floods, and even affect the generation of energy from thermal and hydroelectric power plants. The U.S. should put in place a national strategy to integrate climate change into water management and planning at all levels. Particular emphasis must be given to two simultaneous efforts: reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with our water systems, and help local communities adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change on water availability and quality. To their credit, more and more local water agencies are trying to do these things, but national guidance and support are needed.

There is some good news. The United States is endowed with abundant, high-quality freshwater and sophisticated water collection, treatment, and distribution systems. Our tap water system is one of the best in the world and should (and can) be even better. Our use of freshwater, while often inefficient, is improving. Water-use productivity in the United States has dramatically increased in recent decades. But far more can be done. If we value water, we will treat it as the critical resource that it is, and we will continue to work toward improvements in access, quality, and use. The nation needs a 21st century water policy that will restructure and streamline Federal water programs, integrate energy and water policies, invest in water systems for underserved communities, improve water-quality monitoring and treatment, modernize and enforce outdated national water quality laws (including the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act), and modify or eliminate subsidy programs that lead to unsustainable water use. A first step should be acknowledgement by our elected officials of their awareness of the problems and their willingness to work toward effective solutions.

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The US wind turbine market will go into free fall next year if urgent action is not taken to extend a popular wind farm development tax credit before it expires at the end of the year.

That is the stark warning from the world’s largest turbine manufacturer, Vestas, which today told the Financial Times that it expects the US market to contract by between 75 and 95 per cent if the Production Tax Credit (PTC) is allowed to lapse.

President Obama has said he wants to extend the tax credit as soon as possible, but his challenger for the White House, Republican Mitt Romney, has confirmed he will let the incentive lapse if he is elected in November.

The Danish firm told the paper that 1,600 jobs would be at risk if the PTC is not extended, echoing warnings from the American Wind Energy Association, which has said up to 37,000 jobs could be lost across the country. 

The trade group has also argued that the uncertainty over the future of the tax break is already having a negative impact on the market, leading to project delays and job losses over the summer, including 120 job cuts at Vestas.

The warning comes just days after a group of high profile US firms, including Starbucks, Ben & Jerry’s and Yahoo, wrote to Senate leaders urging them to extend the PTC and support the continued expansion of the US wind energy sector.

The intervention will add further spice to a presidential race where environmental and energy policy issues are playing a central role.

A number of green groups yesterday sought to crank up pressure on both presidential candidates over their stance on climate change issues, launching a new website called ClimateSilence.org that asks visitors to sign up to a petition imploring the candidates to more clearly spell out their climate change policies.

“The silence of Gov. Romney and President Obama on climate change is deafening,” said Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth Action, one of the groups behind the new website. “Voters deserve to know where they stand on the most serious threat to our nation.”

In related news, leading Democrats in the House of Representatives yesterday sent a letter to the Obama administration demanding an update on a congressionally mandated energy efficient datacentre programme that has not yet come into effect.

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 required the government to develop a voluntary energy efficiency programme for datacentres, backed by federally-approved benchmarks and best practices.

However, the programme is yet to be launched and in a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy Democrat Representatives Henry Waxman, Anna Eshoo, and Bobby Rush request a full update on the status of the congressionally-approved programme.

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New samples from beneath a Wyoming gas field where the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency linked hydraulic fracturing to groundwater pollution seem unlikely to sway hearts and minds on a nationwide debate over the contentious issue: The additional data just isn’t a whole lot different, or more substantial, compared to what the EPA detected previously.

Calgary-based Encana, which owns the gas field in the Pavillion area in west-central Wyoming, still says the EPA research was flawed and, so too, last year’s finding that implicated the petroleum industry technique.

An environmental group still says Pavillion shows more regulation is needed for fracking, the practice of blasting of millions of gallons of water and smaller amounts of sand and chemicals down well holes to force open new fissures.

“This newest information reinforces our concerns that fracking may be putting our drinking water and health at risk,” Kate Sinding, with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said Thursday. “It’s why it’s so critical we get safeguards on the books to protect Americans from dangerous drilling practices.”

The Pavillion field has shallow gas and geology much different from other gas fields. Fracking occurred unusually close to home water wells, and the EPA has said that any findings in the area shouldn’t be applied to fracking in general.

Even so, Pavillion now is widely associated — maybe permanently — with fracking. People with significant concerns about or a stake in fracking scoured the new U.S. Geological Survey data, released Wednesday, that was collected in partnership with the state of Wyoming, EPA and two American Indian tribes.

The EPA drew its findings last year from two wells it drilled to test for pollution and this year’s study sought to resample both wells. The USGS released the new data without any analysis.

One hydrogeologist said he didn’t see much from which to draw conclusions.

“These groundwater investigations are kind of a tricky business. You don’t always get these super-conclusive results with, you know, just a couple rounds of sampling from two wells,” said David Yoxtheimer, an extension associate for Penn State’s Marcellus Initiative for Outreach and Research.

“When you’ve got two wells, you really are just kind of scratching the surface. You really aren’t able to determine too much. You might be able to detect the contaminants, but from there you need to expand your investigation.”

That hasn’t happened yet. In fact, just one of the wells was flowing with enough water to yield reliable tests when the latest samples were taken in April.

Encana has been critical of how the EPA drilled its two wells. Now, it is critical that one of the wells wasn’t reliable.

“They couldn’t get a good sample because it was so poorly constructed,” company spokesman Doug Hock said. “That well really needs to be abandoned and should not be used for further study because it’s not a good well.”

The data don’t contain any surprises, said Encana chemist John Gardner, but do show lower potassium levels and pH and potassium levels. Previously, the EPA had pointed to unusually high pH and the detection of potassium hydroxide, a basic chemical used in fracking, in suggesting that fracking had affected the groundwater tested.

The pH of water tested hadn’t declined by much, said Tom Myers, a Reno, Nev., hydrologic consultant for the NRDC, and much of the other data was similar to before.

“There’s nothing in this resampling that suggests what they found in December is wrong. It more or less supports that,” Myers said. “I would say that the status quo is maintained.”

Wyoming officials criticized last year’s EPA data and findings almost from the time they saw them. This year, they’re being a lot more quiet — in public, anyway.

However, they have noticed “some differences” between this year’s data and last year, said Renny MacKay, spokesman for Gov. Matt Mead, who pushed the EPA for the new testing and got it.

“Gov. Mead believes it would be premature to draw conclusions about what those differences mean at this point,” MacKay said by email. “He says that before Wyoming makes conclusions he wants some careful analysis done and a technical team will do that and brief the Governor before Wyoming issues any conclusions.”

A full peer review of the sampling and findings to date is planned but has not yet been scheduled.

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The infamous BP oil spill caused chaos in the US deepwater oil industry, but now drilling in the US Gulf of Mexico (GoM) is making a comeback, according to natural resources experts GlobalData.

New research released by GlobalData, a leading business intelligence provider for the energy sector, states that despite the increased US government restrictions that followed the Deepwater Horizon explosion – combined with the risks and high costs involved in deepwater drilling – climbing crude oil prices will see GoM oil production surpass its former records.

Matthew Jurecky, Global Director of Energy Research and Consulting for GlobalData, recently stated in a prior release that, “The rise in crude oil prices, and consequently retail gasoline prices, was and is inevitable. The global economy is at one of its lowest points in decades and crude oil prices are still set to average a record high for 2012.”

Now, GlobalData’s report, Deep Offshore Oil & Gas Exploration and Production (E&P) in West Africa – Market Analysis, Competitive Landscape and Forecasts to 2020, states that the increasing price of crude oil means that offshore Brazil, offshore West Africa and the US Gulf of Mexico are forming a “Golden Triangle” for deepwater oil exploration and production.

BP plc’s Macondo well experienced a blowout in April 2010, resulting in the destruction of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, a 5 million barrel (MMbbl) oil spill, and a six-month moratorium issued by the US government for certain areas of the GoM. However, a recent surge in issued permits indicates the return of large-scale deepwater drilling to the area.

The US government issued 44 deepwater drilling permits (including permits issued for new wells, bypass and sidetrack, excluding revised permits). This is a promising figure considering that throughout all of 2011 and 2010 the US government issued only 79 and 74 permits respectively. This growth suggests that deepwater drilling in the GoM will return to levels seen before April 2010 by the end of 2012.

One major attraction for deepwater oil exploration in the GoM is the stable political climate and clear regulations, while many other parts of the world see oil and gas investment opportunities marred by regime changes or nationalization. The US and Mexican governments entered into an agreement in February 2012, that set a framework to facilitate hydrocarbon exploration and production in the GoM. The agreement enables lease operators in the US GoM to coordinate with Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the Mexican National Oil Company (NOC) for the joint exploration and production of hydrocarbons in the GoM in the Mexican maritime boundary of GoM. The agreement allows a greater level of freedom for US oil corporations, and is expected to increase investment and drilling in the GoM.

Major International Oil Companies (IOCs) such as BP and Chevron Corporation have always dominated deepwater drilling in the GoM, and are at the forefront of the drilling resurgence. Out of the 44 deepwater drilling permits issued in Q1 2012, BP (with 13) and Chevron (with 14) garnered the majority. IOCs hold the required technological expertise and the capacity to fund high capital expenditure and potential multi-billion-dollar liability risks in the event of another oil spill.

However, the dominance of IOCs in the GoM deepwater exploration is enhanced by an apparent lack of interest from some small independent US operators, as regions such as the Bakken and Eagle Ford shales offer attractive opportunities without the levels of risk involved in deepwater drilling.

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State Revenue Secretary Jane Smith disputed Wednesday that an alternative fuel tax credit possibly could expose state government to $400 million in claims by taxpayers.

Smith said claims for the credit will be reviewed based on the intent of law rather than on guidelines issued earlier this year by her agency.

“The reality is that the law … was not followed,” she said in written answers to questions on the issue. “We went back to determine the proper scope of the law.”

In the process of drawing up new guidelines for the 2009 law that she authored as a legislator, Smith and state economist Greg Albrecht wrote an impact statement estimating the state’s exposure to be $400 million through mid-August. The estimate was based on the number of eligible vehicles dating back to Jan. 1, 2009, that have yet to receive the credit.

Smith said she disputes that estimate despite the inclusion of her name on the impact statement.

She said the $400 million is based on earlier guidelines that the governor rescinded because they did not reflect the intent of the law.

At issue are financial concerns that imploded over the tax credit three years after Gov. Bobby Jindal signed it into law.

Complicated laws such as the alternative fuel tax credit often require state agencies to write rules or guidelines governing how they are to be applied.

Amid confusion by financial experts on which vehicles to apply the tax credit to, Smith’s predecessor, Cynthia Bridges, authorized a rule allowing taxpayers to claim the lesser of 10 percent of the cost or $3,000 on flexible-fuel vehicle purchases.

Smith and Albrecht reported that flex-fuel vehicles, which are designed to run on more than one type of fuel, accounted for 96 percent of alternative-fuel vehicle registrations in Louisiana over the last four years.

They estimated that state government could be forced to pay $250 million a year to car buyers without a rule change. With a change eliminating flex-fuel vehicles from the credit, the state’s exposure shrinks to $10 million a year.

The governor rescinded Bridges’ guidelines in June. Bridges resigned a day later.

The Jindal administration then got to work on new guidelines.

The biggest change in the rule recently published by the revenue department is the exclusion of flexible-fuel vehicles. Beginning Dec. 20, vehicles must be capable of running independently of petroleum fuel to qualify for the credit.

The state Department of Revenue will hold a public hearing at 10 a.m. Oct. 25 on the new rule. The agency did not give a location for the hearing.

The lingering question is what will happen with vehicle purchases made before the rule change and tax credit requests filed in the interim. The revenue department stopped processing requests once the governor rescinded the original guidelines.

Smith and Albrecht reported a backlog of $4 million in possible claims since the rule’s recension. They said roughly $30 million has been paid or claimed.

Albrecht, chief economist for the Legislative Fiscal Office, said Wednesday that he believes most alternative-fuel vehicle owners will be excluded under the new guidelines, even if they bought their cars or trucks before the rule changed.

“I think that the Revenue Department would say that the new rule negates all that exposure, that the door is closed. I’m pretty sure that’s what they would argue. I can’t opine one way or the other there,” he said.

Only eight to 10 percent of eligible vehicle owners typically have filed for the credit.

Smith said the new rule will be prospective once it is promulgated.

“The claims filed after the emergency rule was rescinded will be reviewed based on the actual intent of the statue, not the (original) rule,” she said in a written response.

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These are interesting times for the fracking business as the industry is working at full capacity despite the low natural gas prices and input cost pressures. Schlumberger Limited, one of the industry’s largest players, is counting on an innovative fracking technology to help reduce costs and garner a larger slice of the market. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking as it is commonly know, is used in the production of natural gas and shale gas to improve the yield of a well.

Growing Fracking Capacity Despite Low Gas Prices

Fracking capacity in North America has been increasing rapidly. Capacity grew by about 42% last year and is expected rise by about 28% this year to around 18 Million horsepower.

The exploration and production for shale gas had been increasing over the last few years; however, demand has been soft leading to a sharp decline in prices. Despite the lower natural gas prices, the gas industry engages in about 83% of fracking capacity, largely to earn their leases. The number of horizontal wells that use fracking has also been growing, and there has also been an increase in the length of these wells, which is increasing the requirement for fracking capacity.

Schlumberger’s Solution Cuts Costs

The process of fracking involves pumping a mixture of water, sand and other additives into the well at a high pressure to stimulate the flow of gas.

Schlumberger’s technology, known as HiWay, improves the productivity of the fracking process by reducing the quantity of water and proppant required by up to 60% and 40% respectively, besides reducing the horsepower required for pressure-pumping. A proppant is a mixture of sand and other binders like guar gum. Propants account for a significant part of fracking costs. Earlier this year, a severe shortage in supply of guar gum, a legume based binder produced in India, impacted the profitability of many major fracking players.

The reduced consumption of proppant and water should bring down operating expenses considerably. Additionally, the smaller operational footprint and the reduction in the number of fracking trucks and trailers used for transporting raw material will bring down the logistics costs. Over the long term, we expect the benefits of the new technology to have a positive impact on Schlumberger’s EBITDA margins. Schlumberger already uses this technology in about a third of all its current fracking jobs and expects it to be deployed in 50 to 70 percent of all fracking jobs in the near future.

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Louisiana’s petrochemical industry is in a renaissance period due to low natural gas prices and major discoveries, including northwest Louisiana’s Haynesville Shale, a chemical industry executive said Wednesday.

Dan Borné, president of the Louisiana Chemical Association and the Louisiana Chemical Industry Alliance, told the Rotary Club of Baton Rouge that the industry was in perilous times just five years ago.

The price of natural gas, a fuel and feedstock for the chemical industry, was high. Many ammonia plants had shut down and Louisiana chemical plants along the Mississippi River and Interstate 10 corridor from Baton Rouge to New Orleans had cut back. Chemical companies found it more advantageous to open and expand overseas.

Employment in the industry had fallen from 34,000 in 1999 to 24,000 only 10 years later.

“We were really in a pickle,” Borné said. “We weren’t really sure where we were gonna end up.”

But Borné credited “the magic of the marketplace,” in the form of falling natural gas prices and development of the Haynesville Shale for bringing the good times back.

Borné said that because the chemical industry uses natural gas the way a bakery uses flour — for everything it makes, essentially — Louisiana’s industry is at its strongest when the price of oil per barrel is seven times the price of natural gas per million British thermal units.

Today, gas is roughly $3 per MMBTUs, while oil is about $90 per barrel — about a 30-to-1 ratio.

“That makes Louisiana incredibly competitive,” he said.

Borné said there is a lot of activity in the chemical industry, which has added 1,000 jobs a year for the last three years. He said Methanex is going to dismantle a methanol plant in Chile and move it to Geismar and is considering another facility in Geismar.

He said Cornerstone Chemical is doing a $30 million feasibility study on building an $800 million ammonia plant in Jefferson Parish.

Even the railroad is expanding in the state — in particular, Union Pacific is laying track.

“When they start laying track, they’re betting on a strong economy,” Borné said.

The industry is going to need thousands of construction workers for expansions and new plants.

“This is an exciting time for our industry,” he said.

But Borné warned that competition remains stiff from China, Malaysia and other Asian nations, not to mention other states like Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, which are developing shale plays of their own.

He said fair, consistent regulation; a less litigious legal climate; strong infrastructure; and a well-prepared workforce are keys to competing.

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