OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY'S WORST NIGHTMARE!
12/2/2015-- 1:29 PM CDT
Governor-elect John Bel Edwards has announced the formation of a new transition committee to begin the work of addressing the fiscal challenges facing the State of Louisiana. According to reports, the Fiscal Matters Committee will be charged with identifying ways to eliminate the budget deficit, fund K-12 and higher education, and improve access to healthcare in the state.Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell will serve as one of the co-chairs of the Fiscal Matters Committee.
The choice of Campbell raises concerns about a potentially devastating tax on Louisiana's oil and gas industry!For years, Foster Campbell has been pushing for an oil processing tax.
Campbell mentions the oil processing tax on his website.
"For 20 years I have promoted a tax on oil and gas imported into Louisiana for processing," the statement reads.
"I have fought the major oil companies over this issue like David battling Goliath, but I take comfort in knowing it’s the right thing for our state."
Oil industry insiders have stated that if such a tax were enacted, the oil industry would take a huge hit.According to a 2007 report in the Times Picayune, Larry Wall, spokesman for the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, said no industry could survive a $5.5 billion tax. He also said that a tax on energy would place a burden on all businesses.
The tax would impede interstate commerce and probably violate the U.S. Constitution, Wall said. The industry, which employs 20,000 workers in Louisiana, would over time move assets out of state, eroding Campbell's proposed tax base, Wall told the Times Picayune.
Campbell replied by saying that other states do not want refineries, so the plants in Louisiana would have to stay. To those that pare down, good riddance, he said.
"It's not like they're the best thing that's ever been invented," Campbell said. "It's a polluting deal. They use our air, they use our water, they've torn our coast up. And what are we supposed to say? 'Well, thank you for the refineries?'"
by Chad E. Rogers(C) THE DEAD PELICAN 2016