Oil and Water Do Mix

Op-Ed

Oil and Water Do Mix

The following op-ed was published today in a Capitol Hill newspaper, The Hill. Louisiana newspapers are invited to reprint it:

Louisianans know a lot about oil and water — and contrary to popular belief, they do mix. They are infused in our lives like Cajun food and the Blues. Louisiana stands watch over a massive national energy infrastructure that produces, processes and transports nearly a quarter of America's oil and natural gas supply and about 20 percent of our national oil imports. It is produced close to our shores and on vast expanses of valuable coastal wetlands.

The mouth of the Mississippi River in lower Plaquemines Parish, the seventh largest delta in the world, is the gateway to the interior of the United States and to ports around the world. Dozens of energy and cargo ports line our coast. The Port of South Louisiana exports 51 million tons of cargo a year, more than any other port in North America. More than 2,300 miles of navigable waterways traverse the state, connecting the rest of the country to the energy supply and products produced and imported through these mighty Louisiana waterways.

The 2008 energy and water appropriations bill is literally one of Louisiana's lifeline pieces of legislation and is critical for the country, given the nation's dependence on Louisiana. Also in this bill is a solid investment in new energy sources, such as nuclear power, that will help us reduce our dependence on the waning supply of oil and natural gas.

We need swift passage, and here's why:

For Louisiana, the committee-passed Senate bill will fund $472 million for flood control, dredging, navigation and coastal restoration programs that protect our ports and the energy infrastructure that supplies the entire nation.

One of the vital provisions is $18.5 million for the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project (SELA), which undergirds vital flood control projects and rainfall drainage systems in Jefferson, Orleans and St. Tammany parishes, where nearly a million people live. As we work to strengthen our levees, SELA is essential to sustaining our unique internal pumping operations.

Critical to two other significantly populated parishes, Terrebone and Lafourche, is $4 million in the bill for Morganza to the Gulf flood control projects, a series of levees, locks and other systems that, when complete, will serve to protect more than 120,000 people and 1,700 square miles of land that serve the nation as an energy hub.

Morganza to the Gulf also requires authorization from the yet-to-be-passed Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), the nation's key legislation guiding water-related infrastructure projects all over the country. This bill is supposed to pass every two years but has been held up for seven. The House and Senate have reached a conference agreement, but the bill faces an administration veto because it says the bill's projects are "unaffordable and unnecessary." Our failing national infrastructure, as demonstrated by the Minnesota bridge collapse, hangs in the balance as the administration threatens to kill this bill.

Also significant in the bill are projects to restore Louisiana's wetlands, which are disappearing at an alarming rate. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita alone washed away 217 square miles of coastal wetlands, an area 3.5 times the size of Washington, D.C. This is an ecological tragedy that also imperils thousands of miles of pipelines and other vital energy infrastructure by leaving us vulnerable to further erosion. Louisiana's wetlands are nature's levee system — they diminish the destructive force of a hurricane's power, reducing a storm surge by one foot for every 2.4 square miles of wetlands, scientists estimate.

To combat wetland loss, the Energy and Water bill contains an important $12 million down payment to the Louisiana Coastal Area Ecosystem Restoration projects (LCA), which over several decades will cost billions. LCA will work to sustain and restore the coastal ecosystem in South Louisiana through numerous methods, including sediment redistribution and fresh water diversion projects.

As our natural gas and oil supplies dwindle and the situation in the Middle East remains volatile, America desperately needs to diversify its energy sources — and this bill also helps to do just that.

The bill provides $135 million for the Department of Energy's Nuclear Power 2010 program, recognizing that nuclear power will combat global climate change and help meet our climbing energy needs. Government support is essential because in the next 40 years, 35 new nuclear plants are needed to keep pace with our escalating energy demand.

The bill also funds the Department of Energy's loan guarantee program for energy projects that utilize revolutionary new technologies. Funding the program will encourage Wall Street that the government is serious about a new direction in energy policy.

Congress must come together and quickly pass and send to the president the energy and water appropriations bill. It is crucial for Louisiana, and our national economic future is intertwined with Louisiana's security.

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