Mitch Landrieu: “I want to show another part of the problem: the need for some reinvestment in our energy infrastructure. Let me put up…”

“I want to show another part of the problem: the need for some reinvestment in our energy infrastructure. Let me put up the chart that shows drilling in the gulf. All of these red dots represent wells that are being drilled out in the gulf. It is really a sight to see. There are thousands of people working out in the gulf on these rigs. But they do not just get there from heaven. They have to come from some shore, usually from Texas, Louisiana, or Mississippi where the pipes, the supplies, and helicopters are located. We serve as the platform that allows this activity to go on. We are happy to do that. But we have been doing it now for 50 years and getting no compensation whatsoever. In other words, all the taxes paid in this area do not come back to Louisiana. We do not see a penny of the royalties that are paid, and it is a lot of money. It is $120 billion, since 1955; $120 billion since 1955 has been paid to the Federal Government from the drilling. Some of it is off the shore of Florida, but most of it is off Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Since 1955, these wells and energy have produced, for Washington, $120 billion. Yet for the parishes, the States, and the communities that support that drilling, we get zero. It has to change. It is just not fair, it is not right, and it makes no sense.”