[StBernard] EDITORIAL: Blanco's lawsuit aims at helping to restore coast

[Westley Annis]

EDITORIAL: Blanco's lawsuit aims at helping to restore coast 


Periodically, the press office will share editorials about Governor Blanco's work in various areas.

Published by: The Daily Advertiser (Lafayette) 
Date: July 25, 2006 


Blanco's lawsuit aims at helping to restore coast

Gov. Kathleen Blanco has followed through on her threat to file suit to stop the federal government from opening bids Aug. 16 for oil and gas leases on 20.9 acres in the Gulf of Mexico. The thrust of the suit is that the federal Minerals Management Service violated federal laws by inadequately addressing hurricane damage to Louisiana's coastal area in the environmental impact statement required of all federal agencies. The suit cites violations of the National Environmental Policy Act, enacted after the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 and the Louisiana Coastal Resources Program adopted in 1978.
The governor says MMS' decision to proceed with the ! lease sale over the state's objections "shows a callous disregard" for Louisiana's environmental concerns.

The suit contends that the federal government needs to do whatever it takes to protect the state's fragile coast. She intimated that it would be a matter of enlightened self-interest for the feds, since much of the nation's energy infrastructure sits on our coast. 

Like many other, we expected the suit to demand a larger share of offshore oil and gas revenue for the state treasury. That is not the case. The intent of the suit is to force the federal government to spend part of its oil and gas income from the Outer Continental Shelf to help shore up Louisiana's coastline.
Protecting and rebuilding the coastline is urgent. If fast-moving coastal erosion is not reversed, Louisiana will be faced with economic disaster. Computer projections based on the current rate of loss - approximately 30 miles per year - indicate that that by 2040, the state will lose an area roughly the size of Rhode Island.

There is the possibility, as some readers have argued in letters to the editor, that the legal action to block the lease sales will anger oil companies and they will abandon Gulf waters off our coast. It seems more likely, however, that companies will continue to explore the best prospects for production. Drilling is prohibited on the east and west coasts and off the Florida coast. The Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast should remain a major attraction to the petroleum industry.

Also, in a legal battle between Louisiana and the Mineral Management Service, the petroleum industry might favor Louisiana. It was MMS that, a few years ago, came up with a plan harmful to the industry, based on its peculiar conviction that oil companies were cheating the government.

Whatever the reaction of the oil industry to Blanco's suit, the bottom line is that our wetlands are tremendously valuable - both to us and the rest of the nation. We need the federal government's help to protect and rebuild them. Perhaps Blanco's lawsuit will get Washington's attention.


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The Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation
Louisiana's Fund for Louisiana's People
www.louisianahelp.org