Mississippi and fracking

Introduction
In 2011, Devon Energy and EnCana began drilling in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) play, an “unproven unconventional 7 billion barrel oil resource” spanning the central Louisiana and southwestern Mississippi counties of Amite, Wilkinson, Adams, Franklin, Pike, and Walthall, for a total of 2.7 million acres (the term “play” refers to a geographic area targeted for exploration).

In February 2012, Amite County said it will study oil shale and shale gas development in southwest Mississippi. It will focus on Tuscaloosa Shale production in Amite, Pike and Wilkinson counties - a large formation covering central Louisiana and parts of southwest Mississippi that oil companies have been working at for months. Pike County Economic Development District executive director Britt Herrin says there are hundreds of wells that could be drilled.

On March 21, 2012, Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant unveiled plans to incorporate natural gas as a "priority" in a new statewide energy policy that he is developing along with local business leaders, including Clean Energy Fuels' T. Boone Pickens. Clean Energy Fuels plans to build a station in Pearl before 2014, absorbing the $2 million start-up cost while promoting state and commercial vehicles run on natural gas - which the company would supply. Bryant said other businesses have shown interest in building stations in Harrison and Jackson counties.

Citizen groups

 * Go Haynesville Shale

Related SourceWatch articles

 * United States and fracking

Click on the map below for state-by-state information on fracking: