EDITORIAL: Rally to offer support for local jobs
by WILL CHAPMAN / PUBLISHER (excerpt)

THE DAILY IBERIAN

Lots of locals are frustrated by the moratorium in the Gulf on deepwater drilling for oil and gas, imposed by the federal government in response to the BP oil spill that’s spread to every Gulf state. We know that most who work in the oil and gas industry are good citizens, who wouldn’t purposely expose other workers or our environment to unnecessary risks. Although we all agree we need to study and learn the lessons from the BP disaster and implement reasonable safeguards to prevent this type of thing from happening again, shutting down offshore drilling is unreasonable and unnecessary.

While residents of Louisiana and especially South Louisiana know that the oil and gas industry is a primary component of our economy, residents of all 50 states will feel the impact of shutting down offshore drilling. You hear all the time how our nation needs to lessen its dependence on foreign oil, but consider that 33 percent of domestic oil and gas production reportedly comes from rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. There will be a direct, immediate blow to the economy of our state with this drilling moratorium, but it also will send a negative ripple to the nation’s economy, related to the loss of jobs and millions of dollars, but also consequences from the loss of future production of domestic oil.

There’s not a lot the average person can do about this situation except to make his voice heard, contacting the White House, members of Congress and anyone else to make the case for dropping this moratorium. You can write letters to the editor of local but also out of area publications. You can e-mail the TV, cable and radio networks and the various “talking heads.” And you can attend the Rally for Economic Survival set for the Cajundome July 21 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. A Web site at www.rallyforeconomicsurvival.com offers additional details, as well as other ways to get involved.

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