President Biden’s decisions to revoke the permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline and halt leasing and permitting on federal lands pose a major threat to Louisiana’s economy and middle-class jobs, industry representatives and many elected officials have said.
The executive orders issued last month by the new president also raise concerns about a loss of funding for coastal conservation, environmental restoration projects and protection against hurricanes that comes from oil leasing revenues through the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA), according to the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association (LOGA).
“Banning offshore drilling and leasing means Louisiana gets fewer GOMESA dollars, which directly fund our coast,” LOGA spokeswoman Kati Hyer told the Louisiana Record. “Studies have shown nearly 48,000 jobs could be lost by 2022. That’s extremely troubling. … Twenty-nine percent of Louisiana’s GDP come directly from industry. ”
LOGA’s concerns mirror those of Louisiana U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, who signed a letter along with 24 of his Senate colleagues in an attempt to get Biden to reconsider the executive orders and regulatory actions.
“As senators from states where the energy and resource development sectors have provided good-paying jobs for generations, including the building trades unions, we have been surprised by your immediate actions upon taking office that have targeted hundreds of thousands of these jobs in our states and which run counter to your stated goal of creating good-paying jobs and helping struggling American families,” the letter states.
The letter also quotes the head of the Laborer’s International Union of North America, Terry O’Sullivan, who warned that the renewable energy jobs championed by Biden won’t replace the economic benefits of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have pumped Canada’s tar sands oil south into Nebraska, where it could be transported on to the Gulf Coast.
Energy industry officials, however, seem more interested in working cooperatively with the new administration rather than immediately turning to litigation.
“We believe it’s more than possible, it’s imperative, to work with industry to strengthen the economic recovery and to lower emissions at the same time,” Hyer said.
Mike Moncla, LOGA’s president, said Biden’s moves would threaten billions of dollars in revenues.
“When we prohibit the U.S. from producing American energy, but everyone still needs fuel and infinite products from oil and natural gas, we will end up importing fuel from countries that don’t have standards as high as ours,” Moncla said in a prepared statement. “Ironically, this kind of political move to satisfy a few special interest groups will end up producing more global emissions while killing thousands of high paying American jobs.”