LITTLE ROCK — A conservation group’s effort to stop expansion of natural gas drilling in the Ozark National Forest has hit a snag after a federal judge denied its request for an injunction that would have prevented new wells in the forest.
The Ozark Society wants the U.S. Forest Service to stop granting drilling permits while awaiting a trial next February on a lawsuit challenging the drilling. The society claims the Forest Service violated federal law and didn’t let the public take part in the comment process. The group said endangered species, natural resources and recreational activities are threatened by the drilling.
“We’re not against safe drilling, but we’re very concerned about the other forest resources such as endangered species, the forest itself, the streams and the recreational opportunities,” said Ozark Society President Robert Cross.
Currently, there is only conventional drilling for natural gas in the forest, but the society is concerned that an expansion of drilling would entail hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” in which large amounts of water are used along with toxic chemicals.
The process has led to a surge in drilling in shale formations such as the Fayetteville Shale in north-central Arkansas.
Environmentalists contend that fracking has caused contamination of groundwater near well sites. Another concern is storm water runoff and erosion from the infrastructure built around wells.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is studying the effects of fracking on water.
During a hearing on March 1, an attorney for the Forest Service said the government would not allow fracking in the Ozark National Forest until that study is completed.
U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright asked during the hearing why the Ozark Society would continue to push for the injunction if the government had already said it would not allow drilling in the forest. Ross Noland, an attorney for the Ozark Society, said that it was to prevent the Forest Service from changing its mind.
Noland was unavailable Monday.
Wright denied a request for a temporary injunction Friday, saying the society failed to prove there is a “threat of imminent irreparable harm.”
A spokesman from the Forest Service declined to comment on the pending lawsuit.
The Ozark Society argues that a 2005 study predicting that about 10 to 12 wells would be drilled by 2015 should not have been revised to say that there could be more than 1,700 wells in the forest by 2015 without a public comment period.
The Forest Service said that prediction was wrong and there are only 42 wells are active in the forest.
Cross said the group has not decided whether it will appeal.
Information for the article was contributed by Allen Reed of The Associated Press and Paul P. Quinn of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Business, Pages 21 on 03/27/2012