http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2012/03/suit_challenges_mississippi_de.html
Published: Friday, March 16, 2012, 6:13 AM
By Harlan Kirgan, Mississippi Press
PASCAGOULA, Mississippi — A lawsuit filed by two environmental groups seeks to halt implementation of Mississippi Development Authority seismic and leasing rules for the state’s offshore waters.
The Sierra Club and Gulf Restoration Network filed the lawsuit Wednesday in the Hinds County Chancery Court.
The rules are scheduled to take effect today, according to MDA spokesman Dan Turner.
The suit states the rules are invalid because MDA failed to prepare a valid economic impact statement, and respond and analyze all of the public comments. The suit also states MDA did not balance private versus public trust interests.
“I think as an organization we have bent over backwards to try and get some relief out of the MDA and the agency has repeatedly ignored what I think are public interest groups’ concerns,” said Louie Miller, state director of the Sierra Club.
Those concerns included requesting additional time for public comment, he said.
Turner said he had not seen the suit and could not comment on it.
“But, I’m not sure what real purpose would be served by extending comment again,” he said. “We extended it once. It was 21 pages of rules. We had 43 days of comment period. We held two public hearings. We’ve met with every group that has wanted to meet with us and explained what we are doing and I don’t know exactly what the accomplishment would be at this point.”
The rules were published Dec. 19 and the comment public comment period closed Jan. 31.
Two public meetings on the issue attracted minimal interest, with a Jan. 26 meeting in Jackson drawing only one person and a Jan. 27 one in Gautier drawing only 25 attendees.
A total of 185 responses were received through meetings, letters and e-mails, Turner said after the deadline passed, but only a handful of the comments specifically addressed the draft rules and regulations.
Robert Wiygul of Ocean Springs, the attorney who filed the suit, said MDA is being asked to forward everything it did in putting the rules together to the court for review.
“We are really asking for a modicum of common sense to be applied,” he said. “The way these regulations are set up, oil and gas leases are going to be issued before there is an analysis of the impact on other resources, on other parts of the economy like tourism.”
The “appeal of rulemaking” suit asks the court to review MDA’s actions, he said.
“This is not a situation like a lot of civil cases where you have a verdict and one party wins, one party loses,” he said.
If the environmental groups’ challenge is upheld, the rules would be vacated and sent back to MDA for correction, Wiygul said.
A major objection raised, he said, is “this process allows commitment of public resources without considering impacts on other parts of the economy or environment.”
Gov. Phil Bryant and MDA maintain about 350 billion cubic feet of natural gas could be recovered, which would provide $250 million to $500 million in royalty leases.
The lion’s share of the royalty money — 97.5 percent — would go to the state’s Educational Trust Fund.
The remainder of the royalty money would go to wildlife and habitat enhancement, oil spill recovery and administration of the mineral leasing program.
During a speech Monday in Biloxi to the Gulf Coast Energy Summit, Bryant said competing interests, such as tourism, would be protected as the offshore energy resource is developed.
“We can put it where it doesn’t disrupt the view of tourists that has come to that location,” he said. “We can specifically take that grid and say ‘here is where we ought to seek that energy opportunity.'”
All state waters were open to oil and gas exploration until 2004, when the Legislature limited it to about 186,000 acres, or about 38 percent of the state’s offshore waters.
The lease areas are confined to areas about a mile south of the barrier islands and on the state’s east and west boundaries.
The environmental groups announced the suit in a telephone news conference Thursday.
Opponents of natural gas exploation activity near the barrier islands, 12 Mile South Coalition, ralled Monday, March 12, before the Gulf Coast Energy Summit at the Mississippi Coliseum and Convention Center in Biloxi on Monday where Republican presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum spoke. Shown from left, wearing red jackets, are Louis Skrmetta, Gulf Coast Attractions Association; Jeff Bounds,who wrote a study a consultant; and Louie Miller, state director of the Sierra Club. (Harlan Kirgan/Press-Register)
Special thanks to Richard Charter