Candidate stresses coast issues

Louisiana has unique issues that need to be addressed in Congress, which include hurricane protection, flood prevention and maritime transportation, Garret Graves, a candidate for representative in Louisiana’s Sixth Congressional District said Monday.
Graves was the guest speaker at the St. Mary Industrial Group luncheon meeting at the Petroleum Club of Morgan City.
Graves is the former chairman of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority and executive assistant to Gov. Bobby Jindal for coastal activities. Prior to his work in state government, Graves advised former U.S. Sen. John Breaux, U.S. Sen. David Vitter and former U.S. Rep. Billy Tauzin on energy, transportation, environmental, maritime, defense, trade and foreign affairs.
Louisiana has special issues that other states do not understand, Graves said. “We need to send people back to Washington that understand these issues,” Graves said. Louisiana has lost 1,900 square miles of coastline, which is equivalent to the entire state of Rhode Island, he said.
Louisiana leaders need to help people in the other 49 states understand that spending money on hurricane protection and flood prevention is not liberal federal spending, Graves said.
In the past six years, the state has built or improved more miles of levees, restored more acres of coastline and protected more people or improved the economic resilience of the business community more than in any other 30-year period in history, he said. “We still have a very long way to go. St. Mary’s blessed with being the only parish in the country that’s actually growing,” Graves said.
The state needs to continue to keep improving the levees as a priority, he said. “We need to have hurricanes and high water be another rainy day as opposed to a complete nightmare scenario where folks are staying up and working days on in to try and save their community,” Graves said.
Graves will be running in the Nov. 4 primary election for U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy’s seat, who is running against Mary Landrieu for U.S. Senate. The sixth Congressional district comprises 14 parishes including Terrebonne Parish but not St. Mary Parish, according to Cassidy’s website.
The maritime industry is important to the state with five of the top 15 ports in the country in Louisiana, Graves said. “Up to 20 percent of all of the maritime commerce in this country comes through Louisiana,” Graves said.
“This place is an absolute gold mine when it comes to the maritime industry and ports and navigation industry. We have a major strategic advantage because our network of waterways connect us to 30 states.”
Maritime transportation via barges or cargo ships is the most efficient means of transportation in terms of cost per time, Graves said. “You can’t beat it. It’s not even close,” he said.
Graves did not originally have plans to run for Congress, but eventually decided to run out of frustration with the infighting in Congress and the president taking administrative actions that are not right for the country, he said.
“I have seen Congress effectively play its role as the balance of powers,” Graves said. However, the infighting in Congress is not allowing it to play that role, he said.
The federal government is spending lots of money monitoring people’s emails and phone calls through the National Security Agency, and doing audits on groups because of political leanings, Graves said. “At the same time, we’re having trouble keeping the Atchafalaya River dredged to the right depth,” he said. Certain sections of U.S. 90 are also in need of repair, he said.
The oil and gas industry continues to be important to the state’s economy, he said. Within the last 20 years, Louisiana’s coast has produced between 70 to 90 percent of all offshore energy in the U.S., he said.
In 2011, 58 percent of the nation’s trade deficit was attributable to the U.S. bringing in oil from foreign countries, Graves said. “We have huge reserves here in the United States specifically in Louisiana, both onshore and offshore. We can do more to self-sustain ourselves from an energy perspective,” he said.