Friday, September 18, 2009

Caddo Joins the Regulation Parade

Following the model of Ft. Worth, TX, which enacted municipal regulations to cover drilling operations in the Barnett Shale, the Caddo Parish Commission yesterday passed a set of ordinances targeting operations at wells drilled after January 2008. The Commission set the January time threshold to exclude non-Haynesville activities, presumably by smaller operators.

The article cited above doesn't go into too much depth about the specific regulations, but they don't sound much different than some of those passed by the Louisiana Office of Conservation. They generally concern road use, noise, light and the use of public water.

Given the row between the north Louisiana municipalities and the Office of Conservation over well site regulations, I was expecting something a little more radical, something more befitting of the grand question of state vs. local control. But it seems like the question of who regulates the operations around well sites will remain a gray area for the near future.

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