On behalf of Veron, Bice, Palermo & Wilson, LLC posted in Oil and Gas on Tuesday, May 15, 2012
We do not mean to be alarmist about hydrofracking, but Louisiana readers don't have to skim the news for too long before they come across some new concerning information about this oil and gas extraction process.
We already know that hydrofracking (short for "hydraulic fracturing") is extremely hard on the land and disturbs nearby landowners' rights with its extensive pollution, but a recent story about a very frightening health phenomenon near a hydrofracking operation suggests once again that hydrofracking may amount to extracting oil and gas at the cost of human health. Is that a price we're willing to pay? Hopefully not.
On behalf of Veron, Bice, Palermo & Wilson, LLC posted in Oil and Gas on Friday, May 11, 2012
Say what you will about celebrities, but the fact is, when they bring something up, the public pays attention to it. And for once, Louisiana residents have some bold-faced names paying attention to something important instead of their own line of products or their latest movie: hydrofracking.
Melissa Leo, who won an Oscar for "The Fighter," and Mark Ruffalo, who was nominated for an Oscar for "You Can Count On Me," are leading a May 15 protest against hydrofracking, the environmentally disastrous oil and gas extraction process that uses high-pressure water and chemical injections to free up underground fuel deposits.
On behalf of Veron, Bice, Palermo & Wilson, LLC posted in Oil and Gas on Thursday, May 3, 2012
The billionaire who describes his company as "the world's biggest fracker" is in a lot of trouble.
Aubrey McClendon is the founder and CEO of Chesapeake Energy, one of the biggest natural gas companies in the country. Although Chesapeake Energy focuses more on the East Coast, its actions still have bearing on Louisiana because it is considered a pioneer in the oil and gas industry; where it goes, others follow and "others" includes Louisiana oil and gas companies.
As we alluded to earlier, Chesapeake Energy has been an enthusiastic adopter of hydrofracking, the extraction process in which water and chemicals are injected at very high pressures into the ground to break up the sediment that locks up oil and gas deposits. A lot of concern has been raised about the pollution and land damage done by this process, but oil and gas companies are still pursuing it full steam ahead.
On behalf of Veron, Bice, Palermo & Wilson, LLC posted in Hazardous Waste on Friday, April 27, 2012
Louisiana's next-door neighbor of Texas has an interesting environmental issue on its hands. In a rural western corner of the state, a 1,300-acre dumping site for hazardous waste with low levels of radioactivity has opened, and area residents and environmentalists aren't happy about it.
As these stories often do, this particular issue highlights the tension between our need to dispose of waste safely and carefully and our obligation to respect landowners' rights and take good care of the environment. Striking the right balance is a delicate task and at times can be tedious, but we really have no other choice.
On behalf of Veron, Bice, Palermo & Wilson, LLC posted in Environmental Law on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
A settlement has been proposed in a class action lawsuit against BP over the fallout from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Under the terms of the settlements, which has not yet been accepted, Gulf Coast residents who were injured or sickened by the spill or its subsequent cleanup would be eligible for medical payments of $60,700 and checkups every three years for the next 21 years. BP will also establish a $105 million grant program to shore up medical services in underserved areas of the Gulf Coast, particularly in poor communities where medical care is not readily accessible.
Initial reaction to the settlement has been somewhat mixed. Some people think the amount offered is too small and makes for insufficient compensation. Others think that the company is not being punished enough for its egregious environmental law violations or for the harm it caused to many innocent people. (Keep in mind this settlement only resolves one class action lawsuit over alleged harm caused by the spill; many other lawsuits are still pending).
On behalf of Veron, Bice, Palermo & Wilson, LLC posted in Oil and Gas on Saturday, April 14, 2012
After several posts of what seemed like nothing but bad news for Louisiana landowners, we finally have something positive to report. The Obama administration announced Friday that it has created a multi-agency task force to examine hydrofracking.
Hydrofracking, as Lake Charles readers know by now, is the process of injecting water and chemicals underground at very high pressure so that the rocks and sediment locking in oil and gas deposits will be broken up and the fossil fuels can be harvested. Use of hydrofracking techniques has exploded in the past few years and many critics feel the lightly regulated industry been allowed to get way out of hand.
On behalf of Veron, Bice, Palermo & Wilson, LLC posted in Environmental Law on Thursday, April 12, 2012
Our Louisiana readers understand that soil pollution can eventually pollute the surrounding waters through rain runoff. Water pollution can eventually contaminate riverbeds, lakebeds and eventually the ocean. Air pollution can harm humans as well as plant and animal life. Our state has laws in place to minimize pollution and to hold polluters responsible for their actions or inactions which may violate those laws.
Recently, a Louisiana company pled guilty to a violation of the Clean Water Act. A Houma company, CTCO Shipyard of Louisiana, LLC, pled guilty to a series of environmental law violations. The company was sentenced in federal court to pay fines of up to $500,000 and up to a five-year probation period.
On behalf of Veron, Bice, Palermo & Wilson, LLC posted in Oil and Gas on Friday, April 6, 2012
A former BP contractor has filed a lawsuit claiming that the British petroleum giant did not maintain proper engineering records for years and then lied to the federal government in order to cover up its misdeeds. If his allegations are true (and we do not yet know that they are), it is yet another illustration of how oil and gas companies seem to think that they do not have to play by the same rules as everyone else.
The former employee claims that in 2002, BP certified to the federal government that registered engineers had approved its plan for its Atlantis oil platform, which is 190 miles off the coast of New Orleans, but in fact they had never done so. He said he reported the missing procedure and subsequent paperwork to a BP official and that official agreed that steps needed to be taken, but BP engineers refused to comply.
On behalf of Veron, Bice, Palermo & Wilson, LLC posted in Oil and Gas on Wednesday, March 28, 2012
By now, most Lake Charles readers who've stopped by this blog even occasionally can recite quite a list of the drawbacks of hydrofracking: it caused earthquakes in Ohio; pollutes local water supplies; results in land contamination and often leaves landowners frustrated, angry and upset with the way they have been treated by oil and gas companies.
Now, it seems that there is another problem with hydrofracking. A recent study has found that it tends to increase air pollution around drilling sites, especially pollution by dangerous chemicals like benzene.
On behalf of Veron, Bice, Palermo & Wilson, LLC posted in Hazardous Waste on Thursday, March 22, 2012
Superfund is the term for a government program that was meant to clean up the worst of the worst in terms of the U.S.'s contaminated sites. Recently, it was announced that a former industrial facility in Louisiana that is heavily contaminated with hazardous waste may be designated a Superfund site.
The land, which is just northeast of Jennings, was once occupied by the EVR Wood Treating plant and the Evangeline Refining Company. The site has dangerously high levels of copper, arsenic, chromium and other heavy metals. It is located nearby wetlands and waterways, so there is a very high risk that if something is not done post-haste, the contamination could spread.
