The Sheriff of Bienville Parish and citizens in Northwest Louisiana will host a public meeting on the topic of Earthquakes on Thursday April 23 at 6 p.m. at the Ringgold High School Cafeteria in Ringgold. This meeting follows one last month by Red River Parish Emergency officials, and will address prevention and policy issues as well as Pipeline Protocol.
The 4.95 magnitude earthquake last month was a first for the Bienville Parish area. Citizens there strongly opposed the produced water injection permit for the Brickyard Trucking, LLC facility at Jamestown, believing what scientists have now confirmed: that fracking and underground injection contribute to seismic activity. Multiple active faults have been identified in the Haynesville Shale, and a State Task Force has been formed to address the issues.
At the meeting Thursday, Bill Berger of Berger Geosciences (based in Houston), will explain how earthquakes can be predicted and prevented, using Artificial Intelligence to analyze seismic monitoring and injection well information from oil and gas exploration and production operations. In response to its problems, Texas has encouraged alternatives to produced water injection, including above-ground treatment and beneficial use of the purified wastewater (such as for prairie restoration). Louisiana-based companies can also clean produced water to “better than bottled water standards” and are operating all over the world.
Given recent reports from property owners around Fryeburg, where rights-of-way are being sought for a CO2 pipeline, Mike Nichols of Pitkin (a District 4 candidate for Congress) will address the evolving laws regarding Eminent Domain and the various problems of Carbon Capture pipelines and injection. Capture Point, LLC has contacted area landowners for a pipeline from Colombia County, Arkansas, heading south to Fryeburg then towards Ringgold. This is happening in spite of the Bienville Parish Police Jury’s November 2025 resolution opposing Carbon Capture, reflecting citizen concern about additional sources of risk to their health, property, and drinking water aquifers.
NW Louisiana residents seek to reduce: the incidence and severity of man-made earthquakes, the proliferation of commercial injection facilities, risks to drinking water, & trucking and pipeline hazards. They are demanding a Cumulative Environmental Impact Study of the effects of underground waste injection and consideration of alternative disposal methods, particularly as operations in the Haynesville Shale are projected to double (www.ShiftTheSubsidy.org).