Rules for the required hearings and submission of plans for the environmental remediation of exploration and production (E and P) sites under the provisions of Act 312 of 2006, have recently been adopted, announced Louisiana Commissioner of Conservation James Welsh today.

According to Commissioner Welsh, the new “Legacy Site Rules” were published in the State Register on April 20, 2007, within the framework of  Statewide Order No. 29-B, which outlines oil and gas regulations for Louisiana.

The responsible party of an E and P site that requires clean-up through litigation will be subject to providing a feasible plan of action submitted to the Office of Conservation for review. Once a plan is provided to the Court(s) by the Commissioner of Conservation, and then approved by the Court, the responsible party would deposit the remediation costs into the registry of the court. The Office of Conservation would oversee and monitor the clean-up process and would act timely in reporting progress to the Court.

Commissioner Welsh said that an Ad hoc Committee and the Department of Natural Resources’ legal staff, along with his office’s technical staff worked through a number of tough issues over the past several months in drafting the rules to comply with Act 312.

Act 312 was authored last year by state Senator Robert Adley of Benton and supported by the Blanco Administration. DNR Secretary Scott Angelle and Commissioner Welsh were instrumental in presenting justification for passage of the law before members of the legislature.

To read the rule (LAC 43: XIX. Chapter 6) online as presented in the Louisiana Register:http://www.doa.louisiana.gov/osr/reg/regs2007.htm, April 2007, pages 660 - 664.