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keeping healthy record

Oct. 28
The Courier, Houma, Louisiana, on keeping healthy record:
Oil and more oil.
BP announced last week that it has made another oil discovery in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.
That is a development that could bode well for south Louisiana.
As BP and other oil companies further develop the Gulf oilfield, our economy should benefit.
The workers and equipment that keep the oilfield operational come from here, and we have the benefits to show for it.
Our economy has rolled along healthily over the past decade even as the rest of the nation was mired in a recession.
Our jobless numbers have been among the lowest in the U.S.
Our real estate market has remained robust. Our property has kept and expanded its value while the bottom fell out of the real estate markets elsewhere.
And our local government agencies use the tax money generated by the oilfield and all its service industries to build schools, pay for teachers, light roads and build drainage projects.
BP’s deepwater find is the wave of the future.
“It’s just an indication of what activity we are going to see in the future,” said Chett Chiasson, director of the Greater Lafourche Port Commission. “For us, it’s exciting to hear that. It enhances what we are hearing about in the industry.”
The Gulf oilfield is evolving. It is going farther out from shore and into ever-deeper waters.
As it does, the jobs it generates grow increasingly technical and the need for advanced training for future workers gets greater.
Our region has done a commendable job of capitalizing on the oilfield and using it for long-term benefit.
As that industry changes, though, we must change as well.
Our colleges and university have made great strides in changing along with the industry, attracting more future workers to their training programs and supplying the workforce the industry needs to keep going.
Finds like BP’s most recent one are excellent news for us as they help keep the economic lifeblood of south Louisiana pumping.
Our region is critical to the energy supply of the nation. It will become more so over the coming decades, and that can be good for us.
Now, though, it is up to us to make the most of the opportunities we have thanks to the immense natural resources we enjoy.
For generations, the oilfield has been a place for local people to turn for stable, lucrative careers. Thanks to continued development like BP’s, that trend should remain in effect for the foreseeable future.
Online:
http://www.houmatoday.com

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