LETTER TO THE EDITOR — 9 June 2006

Politicians Miss the Big Picture

I’m all for Louisiana getting a bigger share of federal revenues from Gulf of Mexico oil and gas drilling. It’s long overdue and no state is more deserving.

But the politicians leading this effort are missing the big picture. The major oil companies drilled the offshore wells, not the federal government. And it was to promote drilling that we allowed the dredging of 8,000 miles of canals in our coastal wetlands. That’s greater than the distance from Baton Rouge to Baghdad. These canals are now blamed for much of our wetlands loss.If the oil companies drilled the wells and caused the canals to be dug, why aren’t we asking them to pay their share of the billions of dollars that will be required to restore our disappearing coastline?When Hurricane Katrina devastated Louisiana, the Royal Dutch Shell Co., headquartered in The Netherlands, contributed the equivalent of one hour of its 2004 net profit to hurricane relief. Exxon Mobil, which recently gave its retiring CEO a $400-million retirement, donated $7 million, or less than three hours of profit.Our politicians are not asking the oil companies to restore Louisiana’s coastline, but they are happy to let the industry fund the “Save America’s Wetland” campaign aimed at getting the government to pay. National Public Radio reported recently that Shell is the single biggest sponsor of this Louisiana-based campaign, which wants Uncle Sam to pay for the coastal erosion caused by the oil industry.

By letting the major oil companies off the hook for coastal erosion, as Tulane Law School Professor Oliver Houck told NPR, we are letting the hit man walk away from the crime. I think Professor Houck is absolutely right.

— Foster Campbell
Louisiana Public Service Commissioner, Shreveport