Landry: Public policy should help energy industry

The state needs to make sure it has the proper public policy needed to help the anticipated expansion in the oil and gas industry, candidate for state attorney general Jeff Landry said Monday.
Landry was the guest speaker at the St. Mary Industrial Group’s monthly meeting at the Petroleum Club of Morgan City.
The oil and gas industry is making a comeback after the boom of the 1980s, Landry said. The only reason the economy has not completely faltered is due to the energy renaissance going on across the country, he said.
In 2015, 19 more deepwater oil and gas rigs will be drilled in the Gulf of Mexico, Landry said. About $60 billion will be spent on new construction at plants and refineries from Texas to Mississippi with around $20 billion of that spending coming to the Baton Rouge and New Orleans areas, he said.
“We need to make sure that we have the right public policy in place. Our 2015 elections are going to give us an opportunity to elect leaders that put in that right public policy,” Landry said.
The state also needs leaders to defend public policy once legislation is implemented, he said. Attorneys should not have the ability to make policy but should simply follow the law in place, Landry said.
About four months ago, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder met with all of the state attorneys general telling them that they do not have to enforce laws with which they do not agree, Landry said. “That’s not the way it’s supposed to operate at both the state and federal level,” Landry said.
The attorney general is supposed to enforce the laws that are on the books not create public policy, he said.
The oil and gas industry is under attack because the state attorney general decided that it is acceptable to sue 97 oil and gas companies unconstitutionally, Landry said referencing the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East lawsuit.
The lawsuit sought compensation to repair environmental damages caused by the oil and gas industry. State Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin, authored Senate Bill 469 to prevent that lawsuit, Landry said. SB 469 was sent to Gov. Bobby Jindal Monday after being signed by the speaker of the House.
The state has more than 40,000 oil and gas wells with 90 percent of those wells drilled through aquifers, Landry said. “We have a 100 percent clean bill of health. Our record is crystal clear thanks to you,” Landry said.
“When we allow public policy to work against an industry falsely, it creates an atmosphere where false attacks can come into place,” Landry said.
Landry served as U.S. representative in Louisiana’s 3rd Congressional District from 2011 to 2013. In Congress, Landry cut his district’s budget by 16 percent saving $160,000 in the first year, he said.
During his time in Congress, Landry was ranked as the fourth most conservative member of the House of Representatives, but he cast more bi-partisan votes than any other Louisiana delegation member, he said.
After redistricting, in 2012, Landry ran unsuccessfully against U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette, in Louisiana’s 3rd Congressional District.
Landry chose to run for state attorney general because he has a proven record of operating a public office in a conservative manner, he said.
To get the country back on the right track, the U.S. needs to follow the Constitution, of which the federal government is a byproduct, Landry said. The federal government is a contract between the people and the states, he said.
When the states start to take back power that the federal government has taken away, the country will become exceptional, Landry said. “The answer to American exceptionalism is Louisiana,” Landry said.
If Louisiana succeeds in the effort to gain back power from the federal government, then other states can learn from that example and follow Louisiana, Landry said. “I call that ‘sprinkle around success,’” Landry said.