Opponents of Helis's project in St. Tammany Parish insist that the proposed well will destroy the local environment and quality of life, as well as result in multiple other negative impacts. However, to quote the author and humorist Mark Twain, "facts are stubborn things."

The facts are:

• This type of project is not new to Helis, the oil industry, or the state of Louisiana. According to the Louisiana Commissioner of Conservation, there have been no health issues reported from the literally hundreds of similar projects located around the state.
• This type of project is not new for the aquifers that provide water for St. Tammany Parish either. This aquifer system has been drilled over 18,800 times by water well drillers and over 4850 times by oil and gas well drillers over at least six decades with no negative impacts.
• The technologies used are well-established, well-understood, and well-regulated. Hydraulic fracturing has been performed millions of times around the world since commercialization in 1949, and has been used safely in more than 2,500 shale oil and gas wells in Louisiana over the last six years or so with no negative impacts to health or the environment.
• Helis Oil has an impeccable safety record and extensive experience with similar projects in several states.

Furthermore, the Helis Oil project in St. Tammany Parish is poised to play an important role in strengthening the US economy, putting people to work in St. Tammany Parish and elsewhere, and reducing casualties of US servicemen and women that are able to come home because of reduced need to defend resources in the Middle East. Here's why.

Production of shale oil - oil found in certain geologic shale formations (see map) - has increased by record amounts in recent years. US production of crude oil has nearly doubled from a low of approximately 5 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2008 and is expected to reach 9.5 million b/d in 2014. US production of crude oil is now at a 45-year high,[1] a complete reversal of the 40-year decline since the Arab Oil Embargo of 1972-73, an unimaginable fact as recently as 2008.  As a result, imports of foreign oil have decreased from their high of 61% to approximately 36%. Energy self sufficiency (18.6 million b/d) is achievable within ten years, and even faster if production from Canada and Mexico is included. 

This tremendous increase in US oil production is already having global impacts. Within the last 18 months there have been multiple international events that would previously have been considered supply disruptions that would have caused dramatic increases, or "spikes", in the oil price. These events include sabotage of Nigerian pipelines, shutdown of Libyan export facilities, and instability in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East. Yet the global oil price has remained remarkably stable in the face of these events and more, to benefit businesses in the US and worldwide with predictable energy costs from a politically reliable source. (Just ask anyone in the transportation business about the impact of the price spike of 2008!) 

And there are other global impacts as well: with increased domestic oil production comes increased energy security. With imports from OPEC down to 3.2 million b/d and decreasing rapidly, the US is able to renegotiate relationships with Middle Eastern countries from a position of energy strength, not the weakness that has plagued our foreign policy over the last several decades, and the need to defend the region militarily decreases dramatically as well. Increased domestic energy resources will enable the US to reduce our military presence in the Mideast and elsewhere, bring our servicemen and women home, and provide high-quality jobs for them when they get here. 

This increase is having domestic impacts as well. The US oil and gas industry contributes approximately $400 billion to the economy, without which, the US would continue to be in the recession that began in 2009. In addition, to single-handedly pulling the US out of recession, the shale oil and gas boom has also created 80% of new jobs over this period. 

And this is only the beginning: abundant oil and gas is driving at least $70 billion in industrial projects, most of which are located in Louisiana. These new and expanded facilities are expected to create over 1 million new jobs and add another $300 billion to GDP every year. So the future looks more and more prosperous.

Every barrel we can produce here, from the Helis Oil project and other shale development projects, gets us closer to these goals and a more secure, more prosperous future.

The Helis Oil project should move forward because pursuing shale oil projects in St. Tammany Parish and elsewhere creates domestic resources for use here and for export as value-added products. This, in turn, will enable us to renegotiate relationships with oil exporting nations from a position of energy strength, a complete reversal of our long-standing position of energy weakness. We can bring many of our servicemen and women home, put our people to work in high-quality job, and strengthen our economy. The technologies used have a long-standing record of safety in Louisiana and around the world.  We must do it.

Helis Oil & Gas is a privately owned oil and gas exploration and production company that has owned and operated wells throughout the nation, including properties in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota.  The company has had extensive operations on private, federal and state lands, as well as in federal offshore waters and inland state waters in Louisiana.  Helis Oil & Gas has drilled in sensitive environments, such as wildlife preserves, always with the highest regard for its surroundings.  Helis Oil & Gas regards itself as a respectful guest in the communities in which we work and has historically been committed to contributing to these communities through philanthropic and civic endeavors.  

Learn more about the St. Tammany Energy Project at http://www.helisenergyproject.com/.