Louisiana Democratic Governor Asks Biden to Stop Oil Leasing Ban

May 14, 2021

This week Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards (D-LA) testified to the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He made a few statements asking President Biden to lift the ban on new leases for oil and gas drilling in federal waters by this coming summer.

In the first weeks that Biden took office, he signed multiple executive orders targeting America’s energy sector. Louisiana’s economy relies heavily on the oil and gas industry and they are starting to feel the negative effects of Biden’s offshore drilling ban. Governor Edwards touched on this during his testimony yesterday.

“Oil and gas are foundational cornerstones to our state’s economy,” Edwards said. “A (prolonged drilling) halt would be devastating to our economy.”

Later in the hearing, Senator Cassidy (R-LA) pressured the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Amanda Lefton for a timeline of when this temporary ban would be lifted. This ended with no specific date but a broad statement of taking a look at lifting the ban in early summer. Showing how out of touch this administration is with how important the oil and gas industry is to the state of Louisiana.

The Lafayette Daily Advertiser discusses an American Petroleum Institute study showing that an extended drilling ban would have devastating effects on the Gulf Coast.

The study estimates “48,000 job losses in Louisiana alone by 2022. The oil-and-gas industry supported more than 249,800 jobs and contributed more than $73 billion to Louisiana’s economy in 2018.”

These unrealistic executive orders and climate change goals that Biden’s administration has set will continue to do more harm than good. The state of Louisiana’s economy will suffer if this ban continues, we are looking at thousands of Americans out of a job and billions of dollars lost.