State Joins Groundwater Suit *** Site of Las First Oil Field Feared Fouled

By RICHARD BURGESS

State joins groundwater suit *** Site of Las first oil field feared fouled

LAFAYETTE The state has joined a lawsuit filed by landowners against a long list of oil companies over possible contamination in the Jennings Oil and Gas Field in Acadia Parish, where oil was first discovered in Louisiana in 1901.

The state Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Natural Resources joined the case after reviewing a private study that found contamination of ground water in the area, DEQ attorney Lou Buatt said this week.

We have data that show potential contamination of the upper Chicot Aquifer, Buatt said. We are intervening to protect the public interest.

DEQ began testing residential drinking water wells last year in the Jennings field area, located a few miles northeast of Jennings near the community of Evangeline.

Buatt said no problems have been found in 90 residential water wells tested so far, but testing will continue.

The private study, performed by Baton Rouge-based Icon Environmental Services for area landowners, also found few problems in drinking-water wells.

But in other tests, Icon reported extensive oil-related contamination that could lead to long-term environmental problems.

In summary, there is strong evidence that significant and gross contamination of the Jennings Field due to oilfield operations has occurred, LSU environmental studies Professor Paul Templet wrote in a report he prepared for the landowners.

Templet, hired as an expert witness in the case, served as head of DEQ from 1988 to 1992.

Contamination related to oil production can include chlorides, heavy metals and radioactive materials, as well as oil itself when it leaks into soil or water.

Buatt said DEQs first concern in the case has been to ensure that no one is drinking contaminated water.

DEQ scientists will also work to verify Icons results and assess the extent of any contamination that is not evident in residential wells.

Were trying to get a better understanding of what we have, Buatt said. Sometimes you think you have a big problem, but you go in and dont find it.

The states decision to join the lawsuit means that DEQ and DNR if successful in the case could force companies tied to the contamination to pay the cost of cleanup.

The lawsuit names more than 30 oil and pipeline companies, including most of the majors, but no specific company has been linked to contamination.

Attorney Don Carmouche, who represents the landowners, said the cost of cleaning up the area is estimated at more than $600 million.

The case has been set for trial in September.

The plaintiffs include residents in the area and landowners who leased land to oil companies.

Most of the concern is focused on abandoned earthen pits, where oil- and gas-production waste had been stored for decades before the stricter environmental regulations ended the practice.

Old aerial photographs indicate there were more than 50 open pits in the Jennings field from 1951 to 1969, according to the Icon report.

Egan Water Corporation in Acadia Parish has plans to extend public water lines into the Jennings field area. The expansion was planned before contamination concerns arose.