Last Tuesday (April 29) at the state capital, the House Natural Resources Committee heard ten different bills that would rein in CCS in our state.  Spoiler alert: The folks that we have elected to represent us waved a gigantic middle finger at us, and the people of Louisiana went 1 for 10.  Are you surprised?  You shouldn’t be, as this is nothing new. The only thing surprising about that hearing is the fact that one bill (SB73 by Mike Reese) managed to escape the committee.  Of course, it was the weakest of all the CCS bills heard that day.

There was a parade of citizens testifying and turning in green cards showing support for each of these bills.  The legislators suffered through the horror of having to listen to what the little people think before finally being able to cast the votes that they had already decided to make.  It is crystal clear that had they been able to lock the doors and keep the people out, they certainly would have done so.

Ask yourself if you know a single person who is in favor of CCS in this state?  If you do, it is a safe bet that they or someone in their family is making money from it.  I know a few people in favor of it, but every one of them is tied to it financially in some way.  And in private, every one of them acknowledges that it is a complete waste of taxpayer money, but since some of that money will end up in their pocket, that makes it okay.

So, if no one in the state wants it, why does the legislature continue to refuse to take any action whatsoever to regulate CCS, much less stop it?  Again, the answer is money.  The supporters of CCS have money, the average citizen of Louisiana does not, as a result, at the legislature, the average citizen loses.  Money rules at the capital, as it always has and probably always will.

There are a few legislators who truly take their job of representing their people seriously.  But they are severely outnumbered in Baton Rouge.  Representatives Brett Geymann (R-Lake Charles), DeWith Carrier (R-Oakdale), Kim Coates (R-Ponchatoula), Shane Mack (R-Livingston), and Danny McCormick (R-Oil City) consistently voted along with the will of their constituents.  They take seriously the duty of representing their people over special interests with fat wallets.  They believe that “we, the people” should have a say as to whether we get CCS in our respective parishes instead of just having it rammed down our throats.  If one of them happens to be your representative, please call them or email them and thank them for standing up for the people of this state.  They truly deserve thanks, because they don’t seem to have a lot of friends in the capital.

Then we have the other side.  Sadly, this list is a lot longer.  Representatives Marcus Bryant (D-New Iberia), Jason DeWitt (R-Tioga), Jessica Domangue (R-Houma), Travis Johnson (D-Vidalia), Tim Kerner (R-Lafitte), Jeremy Lacombe (R-Livonia), Jacob Landry (R-Erath), Joe Orgeron (R-Cut Off), Neil Riser (R-Columbia), and Jerome Zeringue (R-Houma) consistently voted against the people of this state.  These elected officials seem to think that allowing private industry to seize your property so that they can run a CCS pipeline across what was once your land (using your own tax dollars, no less) is perfectly okay.  They also seem to think that forcing another parish to take their waste products with little to no compensation is a great idea.

And they have no interest in hearing from you.  They don’t want to listen to what you want, because they just don’t care.  When the unwashed masses show up at the capital to speak their piece in these committee meetings, it just means that it takes the legislators longer to do what they planned to do all along.  You don’t really have a voice, because they aren’t really interested in listening to you.

These are the types of dirty tricks that cause us to be suspicious of everything they do, and they wonder why the people won’t support them when they put an amendment on the ballot.  Quite simply, with very few exceptions, the legislature is not worthy of our trust.  Until we have more people like Representatives Geymann and Chuck Owen (I include him here because he is one of the most outspoken in opposition to CCS, even though he is not on the Natural Resources Committee), and less of them like Representative Joe Orgeron, we will not have government that represents the people.

But right now, the good guys are losing the battle.