Comstock-Amite River Water Usage Denied for Amite River
I saw a news story dated 12-10 about Comstock being denied an application for withdrawal of water from the Amite River by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
The story implied that the fracking protests were instrumental in the denial, and this may be true.
However, that is not what the letter stated from the agency. A copy of the letter is shown at the bottom of this post.
The denial was made because Comstock stated during a hearing on the subject that they had enough water without withdrawal from the Amite River.
Interesting.
Why apply if you have enough water?
The other interesting thing about this is that Mississippi has allowed withdrawal of water from both the west and east prongs of the Amite River on numerous occasions. In fact, a recent well withdrew the water needed for the fracturing process direct from the west prong without a holding pond. In other words, the water was withdrawn as needed.
Mississippi's actions to-date have allowed usage depending upon water flow. So, during periods of heavy rainfall and heavy flow of the river, there is no issue. However, during drought periods, water withdrawal can be limited or stopped altogether.
This makes sense to me.
Louisiana likely has a similar requirement, but took the easy way out on this one to deny the request since there was adequate water available without withdrawal.
For those unaware, the east prong of the Amite River and the west prong of the Amite River flow through Amite County and meet up just south of the MS/LA line to form the Amite River. So, the Amite River is more or less twice the size of these two prongs of the river.
Here is a copy of the letter to Comstock rejecting the application to withdraw water.
