Haynesville Shale Natural Gas Play
 
In 2008, DeSoto Parish became the drilling target for one of the largest natural gas plays in the United States.  Large dense deposits of shale gas were discovered beneath the rural pasture lands and independent oil and gas drilling companies began to descend upon the community in waves. It has been estimated that nearly 5 percent of the entire nation’s drilling is occurring within DeSoto Parish.

According to the DeSoto Parish Tax Assessor’s Office, the total oil and gas related tax assessments in 2006 was $41.9 million. In 2009, total tax assessments on oil and gas development jumped to $145.8 million. City Sales Tax Revenues have more than tripled from June, 2007 to June, 2010 because of the Haynesville Shale Natural Gas discovery.  In DeSoto Parish -Sales Tax revenue has sky-rocketed from $23-million for 2006-2007 to over $78-million for 2009-2010 .  It is estimated that nearly 5 percent of the Nation's gas drilling is in DeSoto Parish.

Now, because of the Haynesville Shale exploration, drilling rigs stretch across our rural skyline, large water trucks dominate the narrow roads; pipelines burrow paths through piney woods, the DeSoto Parish Courthouse is filled with "landmen" researching property records, and parish coffers are plentiful.