(First Published Feb. 24, 2021)
Louisiana’s future – our long-term jobs, our quality of life – depends on whether we can face the truth: An economy that relies so overwhelmingly on oil and gas will not and should not sustain Louisiana for future generations.
Fossil fuels are increasingly inefficient, pollute air and water and face an inexorable downward spiral as a dominant energy industry. Oil and gas titans still spend far more on finding and refining oil than on developing cleaner, diverse energy products. And Louisiana’s elected officials – from local leaders to Democratic Gov. Edwards to Republican Sens. Kennedy and Cassidy – can’t seem to recognize that the same efforts to save our coastline will also create the jobs to fuel our future.
Yet the panic in Louisiana at President Joe Biden’s reasonable actions to tighten the oil spigot and accelerate green energy is, at this point, understandable. Oil and gas companies now supply about $70 billion annually to the state GDP, and 250,000 Louisianans directly depend on the industry for their jobs.
That’s the truth, too – and we need the Biden administration and soon-to-be Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm to grease our transition to solar, wind, thermal, et al, with infrastructure programs and worker re-training that result in job increases.
Granholm, a former Michigan governor with ties to both the auto industry and labor unions, has said the transition can be tailored to needs and opportunities in each state. That’s a fine plan – if federal laws, regulations, incentives and job-creation programs are so appealing that neither the states nor the oil industry can ignore them.
Biden has signaled that a major infrastructure package with green wrapping is on the way. But absent specifics, you can’t really blame Edwards, Cassidy and Kennedy for sounding an alarm. Remember when Hilary Clinton said, in effect, “We’re going to put the coal miners out of business?” Didn’t work out so well for her politically.
Clinton should have outlined specifics to move workers into new jobs, new technology. The Biden administration must do that, and soon -- not just for political reasons but for the good of the country, including Louisiana.
In the meantime, we should recognize that Biden’s actions, including the pause on new oil and gas leasing on federal land, hardly shut off the flow of oil. He’s left in place years’ worth of approved drilling permits. More than enough oil will be produced to meet needs, support jobs and buy us time for our green transition.
Deep-sixing the Keystone Pipeline was another good call. It cost maybe a couple thousand temporary construction jobs, maybe a few dozen permanent jobs -- for an unnecessary, unprofitable pipeline carrying Canadian tar-sands oil.
Fact is, the world has decided to rely ever less on fossil fuels. That hasn’t escaped carmakers like Tesla, Volvo and General Motors, which will convert to selling only zero-emission vehicles within 15 years. More folks will keep working from home, not guzzling gas to and from jobs. We’ll never again hit pre-pandemic levels of consumption, nor will we revert to oil-dependence on other countries.
Our coastline, our economy and the potential to create new, long-lasting jobs in Louisiana depend on the green transition happening faster and faster. We can’t remain mired in the oil patch as other states move to the future.
That’s the inescapable truth – with help from the Biden administration -- we must face.
— Paul Anger, 2nd vice chair, Jefferson Parish Democratic Executive Committee, Feb. 24, 2021