Lake Peigneur residents celebrate

• By PATRICK COURREGES
• Advocate Acadiana bureau
• Published: Jun 19, 2008 - Page: 1BA - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

The group of residents opposing expansion of natural gas storage operations beneath southwest Louisiana’s Lake Peigneur are celebrating what they say is a battle won in their fight, but not the final victory.

Gov. Bobby Jindal has signed into law a measure passed last week by the Legislature that would effectively limit the process of hollowing out the caverns in question.

Atlanta-based AGL Resource — through its subsidiary Jefferson Island Storage and Hub — has an operation that uses hollowed-out areas of the salt dome beneath Lake Peigneur to store natural gas.

Lake Peigneur, on the border of Iberia and Vermilion parishes, was the site of a 1980 disaster in which a drilling rig punched through the top of a salt mine, leading to the sudden draining of the lake.

The company’s intent is to use fresh water drawn from the Chicot aquifer to wash out enough salt to create two new caverns for natural gas storage, just as the caverns were created.

Residents from around the area have rallied to oppose the expansion, citing concerns about the drain on the aquifer, which provides much of southwest Louisiana’s drinking water among other concerns.

The bill Jindal has signed into law, written by state Sen. Troy Hebert, D-Jeanerette, would limit the amount of fresh water from the aquifer the company could use in creating the new caverns to less than the amount AGL has said will be needed to complete the project on its four-year timetable.

The expansion plan is tied up in court over questions of the validity of the company’s lease and ability to make use of area beneath the lake.

Nara Crowley, a resident of the lake area and one of the leaders of the opposition of the expansion, said Wednesday that Jindal’s signing of the bill shows that the people have been heard, but that the fight has not ended.

“The day they (AGL) say that they’re not going on with the expansion is the day we say we’ve passed the final hurdle,” she said.

AGL spokesman Keith Poston on Wednesday reiterated the company’s stance that it would be considering its options on how to proceed with the project.

“The Legislature and the governor have made their decisions and we certainly respect that and will abide by the law,” he said.

Crowley said the new law does not affect all such natural gas storage plans, but is specific to the Lake Peigneur area, which is populated.