HOUMA, La. (AP) - Vanguard Environmental has won an appeal to drill an underground oilfield-waste well near houses and businesses in north Houma after a state court judge affirmed a 2012 decision.
The well would be drilled less than a mile away from St. Gregory Elementary and Legion Park Middle schools - injecting wastewater under high pressure into sand formations about 4,000 feet underground.
The well would also accept water from pipeline testing and cleaning.
The state court agreed in June that Terrebonne Parish officials had unconstitutionally applied parish law to block the well. The state Supreme Court reviewed the appeal and declined to hear the case in November.
Parish President Michel Claudet tells The Courier (https://bit.ly/1m2LEa8 ) the parish has exhausted its legal options to prevent the construction.
“I’m very disappointed with the thought that we have an ordinance that would prohibit this law that’s in place since the 1980s, yet they said they can supersede our local laws through the state,” Claudet said.
Parish law prevents companies from drilling such wells within a mile of neighborhoods, schools and businesses, but state law allows them outside 500 feet. Vanguard received a permit from the Department of Natural Resources for a site closer than a mile.
The state court affirmed Judge George Larke Jr.’s 2012 decision that, in this particular case, the state has exclusive regulatory authority over oil and gas industry sites, so the parish’s law couldn’t override the state permit.
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Information from: The Courier, https://www.houmatoday.com
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