BATON ROUGE, La. — "Desperate to fund programs that could rescue the disappearing Louisiana coast, Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco will attempt to force the federal government to share the money it gets from energy companies that drill in the Gulf of Mexico. Energy companies pay more than $5 billion annually to the U.S. government for the right to mine the gulf for oil and natural gas. Louisiana's campaign, if successful, would be likely to send more than half a billion dollars each year to gulf states, which include some of the poorest in the nation.
Louisiana has tried repeatedly to win a share of lease payments and royalties. This time the stakes are higher. If Blanco's proposal falls on deaf ears in Washington — she hopes to discuss it with President Bush in February — her aides say the state is prepared to begin rejecting new requests for drilling licenses. Blanco, a Democrat who took office in January, has urged other oil- and gas-producing states to join forces on the issue. It is a hardball tactic that would land with a thud in the energy industry at a time when Bush is pushing to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign sources of oil by increasing domestic production. Louisiana is critical to that effort; a third of the oil and natural gas consumed in the U.S. comes ashore here.
Phil Flynn, an energy analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago, said the gulf was an important source of fuel, particularly natural gas. If Louisiana makes good on its threat, Flynn said, it could curtail domestic production — increasing prices and, potentially, driving businesses overseas, where gas would be cheaper and more abundant. "These people could hold the nation hostage," Flynn said. "Basically, I think it would be a very wise thing to give them their way."
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The equivalent of a football field's worth of marshland is lost to open water every 38 minutes here, according to the state Department of Natural Resources, and scientists say another 500 square miles will be lost in the next 50 years if nothing is done. Industries are threatened by the land loss. More than a billion pounds of seafood are caught here each year, for instance, but fisheries are evaporating as erosion destroys the balance of saltwater and freshwater. In many places, the state's natural protection from storms has also vanished. Scientists who are studying the problem — some affiliated with the state, others with local universities and industries — point to a host of potential causes. For decades, the state allowed ranchers, industries and others to dig navigation canals through marshy areas, only to realize in recent years that lasting damage had been done. Global warming, most scientists agree, is causing sea levels to rise, which also has contributed to the problem. Much of the damage, however, can be tied directly to the energy industry. Scores of canals have been dug to make room for pipelines. Others, some of them 100 feet wide, were built to accommodate barges needed to steer drilling platforms into open water. Because of the loss of marshes, numerous pipelines that were once protected by silt and vegetation — and were not built for open-water conditions — are now exposed, resting like spaghetti on the seabed in shallow water."
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http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-energy13dec13,1,6303273.story?coll=la-news-a_sectionSo, the more oil & gas that gets pumped and burned, the more money Lousiana will have to defend the coastline against global warming that's caused by the burning of oil and gas, which provides more money to Louisiana . . . . .
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