Parish Council to consider land use ordinances

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Proposed drilling waste injection well at Beggs prompts action
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A proposed commercial wastewater injection well in the Beggs is stirring the St. Landry Parish Council to consider a land use ordinance.
Details are likely to be ready for the Feb. 20 Council meeting.
Environmental attorneys Bill Goodell, of Lafayette, and Andrew Jacoby, of New Orleans, spoke to the Council’s Finance Committee on Feb. 6 about land use restrictions.
Eagle Oil LLC is seeking a permit from the state Department of Natural Resources for the well to be used to dispose of fracking waste from oil and natural gas drilling.
The Council voted in January to oppose the disposal site. On Jan. 31, a public hearing was held in Opelousas where opposition to the site was voiced. No one spoke in support of the site during the hearing.
Garret Duplechain, Parish Council legal counsel, said, “It is important for our parish to be able to protect its environment” as he introduced the environmental lawyers at the Feb. 6 meeting.
Also citing drinking water safety, Duplechain said, “There are environmental ordinances that can be helpful in that regard.”
Duplechain said he has been working with Goodell and Jacoby to draft ordinance “...which will enable parish government to protect our environment from industry and companies in the parish.”
The state’s constitution gives state government the power to pass laws regulating industry, but land use such as historical preservation and zoning were powers given to local government, Goodell said.
“Local officials and locals are people who know their area the best and are best suited for that type of work,” Jacoby said.
Regulatory and operational authority stayed with the state agencies, he said.
Jacoby said the land use ordinances must be done carefully or they face being swept aside in a court challenge.
Local government can pass ordinances to protect heritage, culture, environment or even the rural nature of a place, he said.
The ordinances would not be aimed at a particular site such as the one at Beggs, but be intended to give the parish government control over what happens in the entire parish, he said.
Jacoby said it is not too late for the Parish Council to act.
If the state approves the permit before the Parish Council acts, that could prove “dicey,” he said.
Jacoby said he thought the ordinances could be done by this week, which would mean the Council could act Wednesday.
Duplechain said, “This is very specialized environmental law. Ordinances have to be crafted carefully.”
The Chicot Aquifer runs under the proposed site at Beggs, Duplechain said noting it is the water source for much of south Louisiana.
“It’s a necessary natural resource and can’t be compromised,” he said of the aquifer.
An additional concern has been raised that the proposed disposal site is about a mile away from the St. Landry Parish Landfill.
A leak at the site could contaminate up to two miles of land around it, and closing and cleaning up the contamination in the landfill could cost taxpayers $7 million, Parish Councilman Harold Taylor said in a story published in the Advocate.
There is no zoning laws in place in St. Landry Parish, so it is likely action this Wednesday would mark the Parish Council’s first foray into the area.