CCST Response to the West Chambers Press Release dated May 19th, 2014

Citizens of St. Tammany Parish (CCST) appreciate St. Tammany West Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee’s (the Chamber) passionate defense of St. Tammany Parish officials who must contend with the very complex economic, social, and environmental issues raised by Helis Oil & Gas Company’s hydraulic fracturing proposal. To be sure, the Chamber’s central mission is to support parish officials’ efforts to promote and regulate business in the parish. Still, CCST does not agree with the Chamber’s perfunctory acceptance of parish officials’ claim there is nothing parish officials or legislators can do to prevent the Helis’ hydraulic fracturing project. CCST believes the legal advice parish officials have received to date is appallingly superficial and amateurish; as a matter of willful ignorance or political patronage to the energy industry and wealthy land owners, parish officials have used the legal advice as a shield against mounting public criticism that they are not using all legal and other means at their disposal to vigorously protect the parish’s vital environmental interests. As support for this proposition, one need look no further than the parish’s failure to require the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ( the Corps) and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (the DEQ) to perform their respective regulatory oversight responsibilities.  Indeed, only after CCST sent cease-and-desist letters to the Corps and to DEQ, and subsequently filed a motion in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana seeking a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and Preliminary Injunction against the Corps, and a similar motion in the 19th Judicial District  State Court against the DEQ, did both agencies agree to perform their proper legal duties. Both the Corps and the DEQ have now agreed to provide the public a full permit application from Helis, which  seeks to dredge and fill wetlands, and a corresponding water quality certification from the state for its project. Additionally, the agencies will re-initiate the public comment period for another 20 days, until midnight on June 16th, as requested by CCST’s lawsuits. These meaningful procedural victories will hold the Corps, DEQ, and Helis to the letter of the law and gain valuable time for parish residents to learn more about the environmental consequences of shale fracturing and to consider their full range of legal options. Beyond this initial procedural parry, the parish has an arsenal of legal options available to prevent hydraulic fracturing in St. Tammany Parish. Though one would never know it from the lazy effort parish officials have made to procure competent legal counsel. CCST understands the path ahead is arduous, and parish residents should too. As in any great cause, we must be realists and idealists.  Helis and its cohorts in the energy industry will fall on...

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