Louisiana Judge Suspends Work, Questions Permit for Helis Drillsite

摘要

In energy-industry friendly Louisiana, a state judge has vacated a state-awarded drilling permit for a Helis Oil & Gas project in St. Tammany Parish and ordered the Office of Conservation to produce the documentation used to approve the request. Judge Timothy Kelley of the 19th Judicial District Court issued the ruling following a request for a judicial review of the Helis permit to drill a location near the town of Abita Springs, Louisiana. In the ruling, Kelley cited three points regarding the permit: whether alternative sites were considered; the cost/benefits of the project; and whether the state considered geologic fault lines in the area of the drill site.