Citizens in Bienville Parish strongly opposed the permit recently granted by the La. Dept. of Conservation to Brickyard Trucking, LLC to operate 3 ‘Saltwater’ injection wells at the former Acme Brick (& Dixie Brick) site on Hwy 792 at Jamestown.

1. The site is already contaminated.  

Previous brick manufacturing released toxins into the land and water over multiple decades -- which needs to be assessed and cleaned up before additional pollution by a different company is allowed.  Air quality has been degraded in past years (including by thousands of pounds of toxic Hydrogen Fluoride), and activity associated with Brickyard Trucking, LLC’s operations would also impair air quality (odors & emissions).

2. The area is in a Recharge Zone for the Sparta Aquifer system.  

The Sparta Aquifer has been endangered for decades because the continuing drawdown of it is unsustainable, given the slower recharge level.  State agencies and the Sparta Groundwater Commission are responsible for protecting the aquifer, but the Commission has not addressed the threat of groundwater contamination from the proliferation of waste injection facilities.  Local water has been high quality, but how long will that last, as pressurized fluids ultimately mix with & displace the groundwater?   

3. “Saltwater” injection dumps hazardous materials underground.  

The Produced Water from oil and gas drilling is chemically hazardous, although it is legally exempted from the Federal definition of what is hazardous.  This allows ‘cheap’ disposal, but the cost is ultimately paid for by the public in environmental degradation. 

4. Once an aquifer is polluted, it’s too late!   

There will always be questions about the geologic and hydrologic situation, because there’s no certainty about what’s happening underground -- particularly when vast quantities of waste fluids are pumped in under pressure, in conjunction with all the various other punctures into the earth from abandoned wells, water wells, etc.  ‘Surety bonds’ from companies would never fully cover the potential impacts.

5. There are already too many underground injection facilities around Jamestown.   

Seven Produced Water disposal sites are already permitted within a 25-mile radius of the Brickyard Trucking, LLC site in Jamestown, which is the eighth.  Companies that are already allowed to inject chemically-hazardous (Class 2) wastewater are in a better position to ultimately convert to a (Class 1) “legally-hazardous” or (Class 6) “Carbon Capture” waste disposal site, given Louisiana’s lax permitting situation combined with the lack of Federal Protection for the Sparta as a “Sole Source Aquifer.”

6. The Cumulative effect of all the hazards to the aquifer must be considered.  

The combined environmental hazards -- of gas fracking, oil drilling, mercury contamination from old gas wells, and other such activity – need to be seriously studied, in an area larger than the 2-mile radius of Brickyard’s permit application.  What about the fault line within 3 miles of the proposed site?  The number of earthquakes nearby have already been increasing.  An Environmental Impact Study (conducted to Federal standards) should guide injection decisions, before drilling & fracking doubles in N. La.

7. The number of trucks (& aggressive driving) is already out of control.  

Overweight ‘saltwater’ trucks too often speed and fail to stop at the intersection of the State highways in Jamestown & throughout the region.  Road damage creates additional safety concerns, with repair at taxpayer expense.  Noise at all hours, diesel fumes, and dust/particulates from tires, etc. already degrade the quality of life locally.  Brickyard Trucking’s permit allows 200 or so 18-wheelers per day (1 every 10 minutes at the site). 

 Although the Parish government has the authority to limit trucking, at this point, even the current safety and nuisance problems are not being addressed.

8. Louisiana’s Dept. of Conservation needs to clean up its own act.

The agency has been considered ‘captured by industry’ over its entire existence, and has contributed to Louisiana’s continuing coastal land loss by not enforcing permit requirements to backfill canals dug through wetlands for oil drilling.  The Dept. Manager told Jamestown citizens that in the last 18 years only ONE permit had ever been denied.  Public Participation & Transparency in this agency’s operations is seriously lacking.

9. There are alternatives to the underground injection of Produced Water.  Texas’ Permian Basin has suffered so many big well blowouts that companies there are now pursuing ‘desalinization’ technology to take the hazardous substances out of the wastewater, to allow the reuse of the water for industrial & ultimately for agricultural irrigation.  Such technology could help save aquifers across La. from further depletion.

Federal funding for Carbon Capture should be re-directed to help clean up rather than create new injection problems in Louisiana.  Currently, $70 Billion in Federal “45Q” tax credits incentivize the controversial practice of forcing super-concentrated (toxic) Carbon Dioxide into the ground in La.  This PUBLIC funding would be more productively invested to initiate a transition toward safer waste disposal practices.