The Louisiana Mercury Reduction Act: Voluntary Assessment and Remediation from Natural Gas Production Sites from Land and Over Water

William H. Schramm
Environmental Technology Division, Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Baton Rouge, LA

On June 2, 2006 the Louisiana Legislature created Act No. 126 - the Louisiana Mercury Risk Reduction Act. This law gave authority to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) to regulate mercury-added products and provided the authority necessary to address unregulated mercury sources. An important aspect of this law incorporates voluntary participation by natural gas production/transportation companies in the assessment and remediation of metering sites where mercury has been released.

Beginning in the early 1990's, the voluntary program has been used by numerous companies to address the problem of mercury contaminated soil. Varied investigative approaches and remedial technologies have been implemented. A select group of site scenarios e.g.: pipe run, manifold, shed, tower, platform or environmental settings such as urban areas, flooding lowlands, forested uplands/croplands, or marine/fresh waters allow a streamlined and focused process for moving these sites through the regulatory process.

Over 30,000 potential sites exist in Louisiana. Approximately 5,000 have been assessed and roughly 3,000 have been remediated. About 900 additional sites are now participating in the process. This paper will discuss the procedures required to satisfy the Risk Evaluation and Corrective Action Program for those remaining sites on land as well as those in wetlands or over water

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90078©2008 AAPG Annual Convention, San Antonio, Texas