Madison fighting oil firm

The Clarion-Ledger, 7/29/8

The city of Madison has filed a trespassing charge against affiliates of a Texas-based oil company that is in Madison County surveying for carbon dioxide that could be used to increase oil production.

Crews working for Denbury Resources have set up seismic survey equipment across the county from Flora to the Ross Barnett Reservoir.

The company is using controlled blasts to create an underground map of potential CO2 pockets, but Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler said the city never granted permission for crews to use its rights of way.

“There’s nothing for citizens to gain, but it could damage our infrastructure,” Butler said. “It’s not worth it.”