Environmental Assessment, Peoples Energy Production - Texas, LP, Proposal to Directionally Drill and Produce the Vastar Unit 2A No. 2 Well, Beaumont Unit, Big Thicket National Preserve, Hardin and Orange Counties, Texas

In accordance with National Park Service (NPS) regulations for nonfederal oil and gas rights, Peoples Energy Production (Peoples) has submitted an Application for Exemption (Application) to the NPS regulations found at 36 CFR 9B to directionally drill and produce the Vastar Unit 2-A No. 2 well from a surface location outside the boundary of the Beaumont Unit (Unit) of Big Thicket National Preserve (Preserve) in Orange County, Texas, on an existing well pad expanded into privately managed forest lands, to a bottomhole location under the Unit in Hardin County, Texas.
This Environmental Assessment (EA) evaluates two alternatives. Alternative A, No Action, evaluates baseline conditions in which the well would not be drilled; therefore, there would be no new impacts on the environment, but existing impacts would continue. Alternative B, Proposed Action, evaluates Peoples’ proposal to directionally drill and produce the well. Due primarily to the use of directional drilling from a surface location approximately 700 feet outside the Unit, there would be no measurable effects on most Unit resources and values. Therefore some Unit resources and values have been dismissed from further analysis in this EA. Under Alternative B, there would be short- to long-term, localized to widespread, negligible to moderate, adverse impacts on air quality, natural soundscapes, lightscapes, and water resources: floodplains and wetlands in and outside the Unit. Impacts on Adjacent Landowners, Resources, and Uses, including cultural resources, geology and soils, vegetation, and wildlife would range from short- to long-term, localized to widespread, negligible to moderate, and be both beneficial and adverse.

Document Content:

Peoples Vastar Unit 2A No. 2 EA   (2.2 MB, PDF file) Disclaimer: Links within the above document(s) were valid as of the date published. Note: Some of the files may be in PDF format and can be viewed using the Adobe Acrobat Reader software. You may download a free copy of from Adobe Systems.