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83 comments on DrumBeat: June 18, 2006

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AlanfromBigEasy on June 18, 2006 - 9:20am

Two TOD related news items from Louisiana.

The Governor has objected to the October offshore leases, following in the steps of Gov. Bush of Florida, California, Massachusetts, etc. The reason is that Louisiana has sustained large scal environementla damage to our wetlands and the US Gov't will neither give Louisiana a % of the royalities nor fund remediation (as they have in the Eberglades & Chesapeake Bay).

We will get to vote in November on a state constitutional amendment that would allocate any federal royalities to rebuilding the wetlands and better levees.

And it was announced that a lignite (low quality coal) gasification plant will be built to supply gases to the petrochemical industry. 900 jobs at the plant, 300 mining jobs in North Louisiana.

No links I could find yet.

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R W Reactionairy on June 18, 2006 - 3:39pm

Alan, I know little about LA politics, but my guess is that the Governor really managed to shut down the offshore oil industry, there would be a new Governor come the next election. I know that LA isn't Florida which has very little in the way of an active exploration and production industry, and a whole bunch of Nimbie consumers and tourist and development special interest groups.

The wetlands of LA have suffered from the actions of the Federal Government. I am definitely not a proponent of big government, but mitigation of a mess Uncle Sam created has considerable merit in my estimation. Isn't the Governor just trying to make this point?

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AlanfromBigEasy on June 18, 2006 - 6:05pm

The Governors actions will not shut down existing GoM production, but will stop new production from new leases for a protected period (I heard one estimate of a minimum of 5 years with legal dragging of feet before leases happen. Then take action against actual drilling and make it clear to oil companies that any effort to produce will take some legal efforts and on-shore support permits will be hard to get).

It will, over time, dry up on-shore support servcies here BUT the state is solidly behind her. $10 billion for Chesepeake Bay, $12 billion for Everglades (from memory) and pennies for the more valuable Louisiana wetlands.

We are NOT playing on this one. There has been a sea-change in Louisiana politics (corruption is tolerated FAR less as well). Patriotism and sacrificing for the common good has not been reciprocated from DC so things are going to tighten up down here.

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