Interview with U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany

US Rep Charles Boustany, who represents the Tri-City area in Congress, is pushing legislation to keep an eye on what’s happening above ground and is hoping to block what he called the Obama administration’s war on the energy industry. In an interview Monday at The Daily Review office, Boustany, R-Lafayette, talked about his legislation to require Doppler radar coverage for state capitals. Boustany said his Doppler radar bill took shape after he learned that the Baton Rouge area lacked that radar coverage, which can detect motion within a storm pointing to a possible tornado. In February, two people were killed when a twister hit a recreational vehicle park in St. James Parish. The same system spawned an EF-1 tornado near Baldwin with 110 mph winds. It touched down in one cane field near U.S. 90 and dissipated in another near La. 87. While it was on the ground, the tornado damaged two businesses and 28 homes. The National Weather Service said St. Mary’s distance from a Doppler radar makes observations impossible near the ground here. The bill would require the secretary of commerce to see that there is Doppler coverage within 55 miles of each state capital. “We have significant gaps,” Boustany said. “As a state that’s afflicted with lots of different weather events, we need to make sure we have good coverage to pick up tornadoes early in this state to save life and hopefully prepare property.” Boustany is sounding a warning of his own about a $10.25 tax in the Obama administration’s proposed fiscal year budget. The tax would be phased in over five years and would apply to crude oil imported or produced in the United States, but not to exported crude. The administration bills the tax as protection for domestic production against oil imported from overseas. Estimates say the tax could raise $32 billion a year for transportation and other infrastructure improvements, including a focus on clean energy projects. But Boustany thinks the tax could be deadly for current refinery expansion plans in south Louisiana. “It would take our refineries, which are relatively profitable right now, and make them unprofitable, and less competitive versus foreign refiners,” he said “And at a time when that’s been one of the bright spots in the energy sector, this would have the impact of hurting the downstream side while the upstream side is suffering as well. “If you take all the investment we’re seeing, for instance in Lake Charles and Baton Rouge, in new refineries, it would kill it if that sort tax is proposed.” Boustany said he is working on legislation to block the tax, although he’s confident that fiscal 2017 budget that contains it won’t go anywhere in Congress. Another battlefield is offshore drilling, where the Obama administration is proposing tough new rules, including stiffer requirements for blowout preventers. A federal report last year blamed the 2010 Macondo well disaster on a malfunctioning blowout preventer. The proposed rules would impose stiffer minimum standards on the equipment itself and require real-time monitoring in many cases. “It takes a one-size fits all approach to blowout preventers in the Gulf of Mexico,” Boustany said. “What the rules are proposing is not truly feasible from a technological standpoint.” He said some estimates say the rules will cost the industry far more than the $650 million the administration says drillers will have to pay. One Obama administration initiative is likely to find more favor in south Louisiana. The gradual thaw in relations with Cuba raises the possibility that rice farmers will be able to reopen that market, once the biggest consumer of Louisiana rice exports. But increased trade raises another specter: competition for Louisiana sugar cane growers, who have traditionally been protected by strict import quotas. Boustany thinks that increased trade will be a net plus, especially if rules requiring up-front payment from Cuba for U.S. products are replaced by a credit-based system. “Any opening would not infringe on that tariff rate quota, and I believe our sugar cane industry would be just fine with this …,” Boustany said. “Cuba is more interested in importing rice from the United States than exporting sugar into the United States.” Boustany represented the 7th Congressional District 2005-2013. After the 2010 reapportionment, in which Louisiana lost one of its seven U.S. House seats, two incumbents, Boustany and U.S. Rep. Jeff Landry, R-New Iberia, were placed in a new 3rd District that includes St. Mary. Boustany beat Landry in the 2012 election. He now holds a seat on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. In December, Boustany announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by David Vitter, R-Metairie, when the current term expires. --By Bill Decker bdecker@daily-review.com