A bill that would restrict expansion of natural gas storage caverns beneath Lake Peigneur will make it to the Louisiana Senate floor.

By unanimous vote Tuesday, the Senate Environmental Quality Committee passed Senate Bill 754, which “provides for certain permits concerning ground water.” Authored by District 22 Sen. Troy Hebert, D-Jeanerette, the bill is expected to go before the full Senate as early as next week. Atlanta-based AGL Resources owns and operates the natural gas facility at Jefferson Island.

“This bill stops the caverns from being built because it attacks the issue from a water resource standpoint,” Hebert said. “The bill prohibits a company from using over 3 million gallons or more of water a day that would be injected into the ground and never returned to the aquifer. AGL Resources proposes using over 5 million gallons a day. This bill was structured this way so that it did not interfere with farming irrigation or municipal water suppliers.”

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Hebert views the passage of the bill as a collaborative effort.

“This was a major hurdle because this type of bill has never even made it out of the committee process,” Hebert said.

“I will work hard to pass it on the Senate floor so that it can go to the House for debate. The people of the Lake Peigneur area should be commended for not giving up the fight.”

Keith Poston, corporate communications manager for AGL Resources, used “terrible” as a descriptive phrase for the bill.

“It singles out AGL Resources in the way it was written, as well as takes out any due process and input from the public,” Poston said. “It circumvents the regulatory structure the way it was designed.”

Nara Crowley, vice-president of Save Lake Peigneur, a community group which opposes the expansion of AGL Resources’ facility at Lake Peigneur, was pleased with the vote.

“We’re going to lobby to win,” Crowley said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”