Cassidy On WAFB: They’re Not Hurting Tony Heyward; They’re Hurting The Working Family In South Louisiana

Rep. Bill Cassidy was on WAFB-TV this morning discussing the effects of the Obama moratorium (which has not gone away despite the administration’s rhetorical smokescreen; no permits have been issued for deepwater offshore drilling yet) on Louisiana’s economy. A partial transcript follows:

Moratorium Killing Jobs In Louisiana And Beyond
Cassidy: “Now, a couple a things here: there is the outer continental shelf moratorium and the shallow water moratorium. The administration’s numbers for outer continental shelf is 12,000 jobs lost and 1.8 billion dollars of lost economic activity on the Gulf Coast.  Now, I can tell you that I’m also told that say, the Caterpillar plant in Illinois, which is no longer selling million dollar motors to put on rigs, has also lost…the ripple effects, the steel workers in the Midwest.”

De Facto Moratorium Taking Toll On Louisiana Workers
Cassidy: “So, the other thing I’ve heard is that the shallow water rigs, which have been shut down, have laid off.  That’s not included in the 12,000. There’s an article in the Wall Street Journal  a week ago, a guy named Joe Gonzales from Houston, had declared bankruptcy once, got a job on a shallow water rig and now he’s laid off again and now may have to declare bankruptcy again. So the shallow water effect is not included in the 12,000, probably a little bit bigger than that 12,000.”

American Energy Security At Risk
Cassidy: “But what we do know is that it’s going to impact long-term energy output.  There’s an agency in the federal government that just looks at energy production.  They say that there’s going to be 5,000 barrels per day less production in the Gulf of Mexico because of the moratorium.”

Warning Signs For Louisiana Economy
Cassidy: Loren Scott said recently that with oil prices this high, the fact that Houma and Lafayette are not growing is a bad sign.  I speak to my friends who sell service or work in Lafayette or work in Lafayette or Houma, they say they’ve never seen Cajuns so pessimistic.  So, in our own state, we have to know that ultimately a vibrant boat building, vibrant rig building, vibrant service industry and OCS drilling industry is going to be vital to our future.”

“They’re Not Hurting Tony Heyward; They’re Hurting The Working Family In South Louisiana”
Cassidy: “But keep in mind this is not just the big boys here.  I often thought in congress people thought they were hurting Tony Heyward, but they’re not hurting Tony Heyward; they’re hurting the working family in South Louisiana who are depending on that check for their mortgage and their car payments.”

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