LOUISIANA AND FLORIDA- A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE ON OIL!

Monday, September 21^st, 2026

Baton  Rouge, Louisiana

 

LOUISIANA AND FLORIDA-

A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE ON OIL!

 

 The price of a gallon of gas is off the charts across America.  Even here in Louisiana, the price of gasoline is approaching four dollars a gallon. As you can imagine, there justifiably is lots of complaining. So what to  do? An obvious place to begin in order to lower the price? More domestic production.  More drilling off our coast. Heads began shaking, or I received blank stares. “Drill off our coast? Have all that pollution and major oil spills?  No way!”  I’ve heard these sentiments repeatedly.

 

Marine researcher Humberto Fontova did a major study of oil production and its environmental effects on Louisiana coastal waters and here is what he found.  For fear of oil spills, the U.S. Federal government and various states ban drilling in thousands of square miles off the U.S. Coast. These areas, primarily on the Outer Continental Shelf, hold an estimated 115 billion barrels of oil and 633 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. This leaves America‘s energy needs increasingly at the mercy of foreign autocrats, despots and maniacs.

 

Of the roughly 3,700 offshore oil production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, some 3,200 lie off the Louisiana coast. Yet Louisiana produces one-third of America‘s commercial fisheries and no major oil spill has ever soiled its coast.

On the other hand, Florida, which zealously prohibits offshore oil drilling, had its gorgeous “Emerald Coast” panhandle beaches soiled by an ugly oil spill in 1976. This spill, as almost all oil spills, resulted from the transportation of oil,  not from the extraction of oil. But forget cheaper oil and less pollution for a second. All fishermen and scuba divers out there should plead with their states to open up offshore oil drilling posthaste because of the t fabulous fishing and the explosion of marine life that accompanies the erection of offshore oil platforms.

 

The original plan, mandated by federal environmental “experts” back in the late ’40s, was to remove the big, ugly, polluting, environmentally hazardous contraptions as soon as they stopped producing. Fine, said the oil companies.

About 15 years ago some wells played out off Louisiana and the oil companies tried to comply. Their ears are still ringing from the clamor fishermen put up. Turns out those platforms are going nowhere, and by popular demand of those with a bigger stake in the marine environment than any “environmentalist.”

Every “environmental” superstition against these structures was turned on its head. Marine life had exploded around these huge artificial reefs: A study by LSU’s Sea Grant college showed that 85 percent of Louisiana fishing trips involve fishing around these platforms. The same study showed that there’s 50 times more marine life around  rigs and pipelines in any given year.

The Flower Garden coral reefs lie off the Louisiana-Texas border. Unlike any of the Florida Keys reefs, they’re surrounded by dozens of offshore oil platforms.

These wells have been pumping away for the past 50 years. Yet according to G.P. Schmahl, a Federal biologist who worked for decades in both places, “The Flower Gardens are much healthier, more pristine off the Louisiana coast than anything in the Florida Keys. It was a surprise to me,” he admits. “And I think it’s a surprise to most people.”

“A key measure of the health of a reef is the amount of area taken up by coral,” according to a report by Steve Gittings, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s science coordinator for marine sanctuaries. “Louisiana‘s Flower Garden boasts nearly 50 percent coral cover. In the Florida Keys it can run as little as 5 percent.”

Most of the red snapper you eat in Florida restaurants are caught around Louisiana‘s oil platforms. We see the Florida-registered boats tied up to them constantly. Sometimes us locals can barely squeeze in.

 

So here is the bottom line. We can see the price of gasoline continue to rise, and realistically reach five dollars a gallon or more  And we can stand by as the amount of fishing along the Gulf continues to diminish.  Or the nation can follow Louisiana‘s lead, reduce the price of gasoline, continue an abundance of quality fishing, and dramatically reduce our oil dependence from countries of questionable allegiance. Congress needs o step in.

 

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownla.com.