For every 1 job out in the gulf on a rig, there are 9 jobs onshore supporting that worker.
The oil industry in Louisiana represents $30 Billion of the economy in our state. That is billion with a "B"
That's our state budget, that's what keeps colleges open, that's what pays for Coastal Restoration work and the budget of the Department Wildlife and Fisheries. Whether you like it or not, that’s the reality of our situation. The dirty work of oil keeps us afloat and it keeps you afloat.
This blanket moratorium is killing us, that is a fact. BP is not showing that it deserves the permits to operate off our coast. That is also a fact. But there are plenty of other operators out there. Throwing out the baby with the bathwater is not the solution! Competent investigations and a competent regulatory system is.
Twenty-five rigs have announced they are closing or moving operations due to this stupid moratorium. They’re going to West Africa and Brazil. Those rigs by themselves employee between 24,000 and 42,000 American workers. That's just a drop in the bucket. Port Fouchon announced that several port facilities are considering layoffs. So multiply that number times 9 to understand the residual effect ONSHORE of those jobs going away.
Lost wages from the moratorium are estimated to be $150 to $300 million one month. That’s just from rig workers, not other workers down the chain. Obama's response to this has been that small business loans and unemployment will be available. WTH? That "let them eat cake" attitude is infuriating on so many levels.
Obama administration is also saying that BP will pay. How? When?
What the bubble in Washington and apparently also the bubble forming around Dkos, fail to understand and comprehend is that workers in Louisiana are NOT interested in handouts. They WANT to work and careers.
We also want Mineral Management Services, EPA and Coast Guard to be doing it's job. Proactively. Not reactively like it has perfected over the past 50 days.
We are OVER federal officials like EPA administrators, coming down here and being asked questions that they don't know answers to. It's YOUR job, learn it! What? There's a second spill out there? Wait, there’s 2 different types of Corexit? It’s banned in Britain? Who resigned from my staff today, I wasn’t aware of that?
The entire careers of seafood workers from boat operators to purveyors, to restaurants is already in peril.
Now, the rug is getting pulled out underneath oil workers too. Soon you’ll see all of the other shops and businesses that support those workers go away also. Property taxes decline, and then it’s socio-economic effects will reverberate for generations.
This isn’t just Louisiana. A shipyard in Florida that employs 1000 people alone is considering lay-offs because a rig they were building is not going to be needed anymore. Houston, you’re next.
Obama has been bumbling through this crisis, between believing what BP had to say in the beginning, to holding up local and parish officials in finding solutions, to now suggesting that the solution is to expand the welfare state instead of sending out competent inspectors WHILE keeping workers out in the field.
Each of you needs petroleum today, tomorrow and for the forseable future. Alternative energy is only 3% of viable alternatives. Nobody would like Alternative Energy to be 100% than me and one of my friends whose company, South Coast Solar, is pioneering alternative energy and based right here in New Orleans.
Whether you like it or not, fossil fuels brings you your cell phone, your lap top and your favorite product from Whole Foods. We are not a state or city of "whiners" or "drunks." We work very hard. We love our communities fiercely. We fended off the British. Our native French speakers defeated the Germans in WWII. We are not asking for a handout. We are asking the federal government to do IT’S JOB.
From building a competent levy system (which we financed through our taxpayer dollars), to using the oil royalties from OUR lands that goes directly to the feds (and which we receive absolutely not a cent) to protect our coast.
70% of oil production in this country comes from us. 60% of seafood came from us. The best sushi in the country was from here. Japanese restauranteurs used to wait by the docks in Venice with helicopters to personally take the best catch themselves back to the airport and off to A-list places in NYC and Los Angeles. They interviewed Buddy’s Seafood in Anapolis on CNN last weekend. That was one of our favorite places when we lived in that area. No wonder. Because they served Louisiana seafood and now are scrambling to find alternatives, which are either going to be farm raised or from unsustainable labor standards.
Today, the feds are trying to re-assure what types of moratorium is in place. During the crisis they approved permits, and then took them away, now they are taking it away again. Do they know what they are doing on any given day? Seriously, what is up with the clowing around.
Another speech or photo op is NOT needed. Competent Leadership is needed. Remember when Biden said that a crisis would happen to test Obama’s mettle? Well here it is in all it’s glory and Obama is getting an F from me.
I did not dredge my way through snow drifts in Iowa knocking on doors for Howard Dean and drive voters to the Polls in some of New Orleans worst projects for THIS. If you are applauding this moratorium, you are a fool. What you should be doing is DEMANDING competency from your government.
LINKS
Economic Hurt from Moratorium Demands Action
Video Letter to Obama on Moratorium