In a point of view opinion in the Times Picayune of July 16, Marc Ehrhardt, Executive Director of Grow Louisiana Coalition wrote a column titled, Oil, Gas Industry Is Pumping Resources Into Coastal Restoration represents the usual ideology of a free pass to business, this time being the Oil and Gas industry. Mr. Ehrhardt does not like the legal suits filed against the industry for the environmental damage their operations have caused over the past 50 plus years.
The theme of the column is that the industry, because they and their employees pay taxes, the industry is doing enough toward coastal restoration. Ditto, because of the royalties they pay the state and federal government. The other theme is that the industry is an economic engine that supports jobs in Louisiana and etc., etc., and etc. Of course every one knows that the industry is in Louisiana because of Louisiana's natural resources so they have to create jobs to do the work and develop those resources.
Another theme is that the law suits negatively affect Louisiana's competitive position. There is one thing we know about law suits and that is, more law suits are filed by business against other business than any law suits filed against the oil and gas industry for the environmental damage caused by their operations. And the fact remains that the damages caused to Louisiana's environment negatively affects Louisiana's competitive position more than the law suits themselves.
Now a few words about Louisiana jobs created by the industry. In the past several years Louisiana has lost more oil and gas industry jobs than any other sector because of cut backs due to a surplus of oil and gas on the market which results from over supply and over production. The price of a barrel of oil is still in the $40-50 range and it had been in the $90 range for many years before the fall. But hey, the Oil industry could put many of those laid off workers back to work by restoring the land their operations destroyed over the last 50 plus years. What Louisiana needs to do is expand their business base outside the oil and gas industry and diversify with business more friendly to the environment and the labor market.
This writer was struck by the tell tale sign that Mr. Ehrhardt never once mentioned in his article the damage to Louisiana's environment that was caused by the industry's operations. That is par for the course for those who have become spoke persons for the industry. And yes, lucky for America and Louisiana the country had a President who did his job and saw to it that BP was held accountable for the blow out in the Gulf of Mexico and the resulting damages, including the death of 11 Rig workers.
The idea that the oil and gas industry has paid or continues to pay for the damage to Louisiana's environment through the taxes and or royalties they pay is a fairy tale and a scam. It is also good to remember that BP, after paying out billions of dollars for the damage they caused, continues to operate in Louisiana, on shore sand off shore and are still making money.
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
