House Bill 617, as filed by Rep. Sydnie Mae Durand, D-St. Martinville, targets AGL Resources, a natural-gas company that signed a contract with the state to build two new underground gas-storage caverns. “Save Lake Peigneur” members oppose constructing the new caverns and say it would compromise the safety around the lake.
AGL’s legal team is looking at all aspects of the bill and AGL is committed to drilling the new caverns, AGL spokesman Jack Holt said Saturday from north Georgia. The state stopped the company from building the caverns last year, but AGL has filed suit, which still awaits action.
|
Advertisement
|
They say AGL’s operations could be responsible. No one has been hurt by the bubbling, as far as anyone is aware, according to Lake Peigneur resident Nara Crowley.
She said their group will be lobbying the Louisiana Legislature in the coming weeks as the session gets going. It began April 30.
AGL did not have a representative present Friday, though “a friend of a friend of the company” — Robert Calahan — showed up to take notes, Holt said.
Durand’s proposed law, which she wrote with the help of several area residents, would prohibit drilling for purposes of exploration, production, storage, disposal, or leaching. It would provide an exception for directional drilling that originates outside the lake and salt dome for oil and gas exploration.
The oil industry would not be affected, Crowley confirmed again Saturday afternoon, though AGL would be. However, Holt and others in the company apparently are wondering if legislation can stop the company’s expansion.
“We have entered into a contract with the state,” Holt said. “Can the legislature pass a law that would negate a contract they’ve already entered into? That’s what legal is looking at right now. But we want to be good neighbors. We’ve said that all along.”
District 13 Iberia Parish Councilman Larry Richard, whose district includes Lake Peigneur and who was present Friday, said he’s 100 percent behind Durand’s bill.
“I think we’re heading in the right direction,” Richard said Saturday. “I think Sydnie Mae submitted a very good bill. That lake has been used for drilling for many, many years. It’s not about AGL, in a sense. It may be targeting AGL, but we have to first and foremost look at the safety of the people in the area. You’re talking about a salt dome. You’re not just talking about people living next to the water. And I think, with this bill, we need to do exactly what we’re doing.”
As for Calahan’s presence Friday, Holt said, “We know of him. He’s a friend of a friend of the company.”
“We are convinced that there is no connection between any reported bubbling activity and our facility at Lake Peigneur,” Holt said. “While the Department of Natural Resources’ investigation did not conclude a cause for the bubbling, it did determine there is no cause for concern. We want to reassure the community around the lake that this project (two additional caverns) can be operated as safely as the existing caverns have for the past 13 years.”
AGL already operates two underground caverns, which were built by Equitable Resources in 1994.
For Crowley, it’s all about safety. She disagrees that AGL is being a good neighbor. She said greed and money have clouded the company’s judgment.
“A vote (in the legislature) should be in our favor, because we knew, and sensed, it was bad before the bubbling began,” Crowley said. “And to continue with that endeavor — I just don’t understand it. Corporations have no soul. We all know that. But the people in the corporation should have soul.”
Comments