KEY TAKEAWAYS: Gulf oil executives and 18 companies met with U.S. lawmakers to discuss energy policy issues. Key topics included federal leasing, permitting delays, and rising flood insurance costs in Louisiana. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise led a visit to an offshore platform and indust ry meetings. Officials also highlighted a new Gulf oil discovery and concerns over regulatory delays and shutdown impacts.   Eighteen representatives from companies that collectively produce 1.13 million barrels of oil a day from the Gulf met with lawmakers to discuss changes they would want from the U.S. Government. It was Louisiana officials who did the majority of the talking. Republican House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, took fellow House members out to the Holstein platform in the Gulf to view the oil production and drilling process April 9. The platform is roughly 150 miles south of New Orleans. After visiting the platform, the lawmakers went to the Greater Lafourche Port Commission Administration Office to meet with state and local government officials, Edison Chouest, and oil executives from Shell, Chevron, BP, and Woodside Energy. The oil officials didn’t say much during the meeting except when directly asked. Most of the conversation was driven by state and local officials. “Send that IRS agent over here; we’re gonna get sweet with them,” Greater Lafourche Port Commissioner Jimmy Lafont said as the room erupted into laughter. Scalise holds this event each year, and he said it’s one thing to tell people about the technology and hard work, but it’s another thing to allow them to see it first-hand. “It’s always interesting to go out to a deepwater platform and show off how the technology works… in the real world in thousands of feet of water to produce thousands of barrels a day,” Scalise said. “And it’s all done by amazing workers, most of whom are from Louisiana.” Lawmakers who visited included Bob Onder, R, Missouri, Craig Goldman, R, Texas, and Jessica Steinman. According to Scalise, the lawmakers were there to hear the concerns of the locals, and how the federal government affected their daily lives. Primarily three main issues were discussed: Gulf lease sales, permitting and flood insurance. Leases Oil officials and Louisiana Midcontinent Oil and Gas President Tommy Faucheux heaped praise on lawmakers for legislation that ensured regular Gulf lease sales. “Only a couple of short years ago, we didn’t know what the future of leasing would look like in the offshore space,” Faucheux said, adding that liquid natural gas and refining were also in question. “Fast forward to today, and we are in the middle of a series of lease sales.” The oil executives were excited and congratulated one another over the news that Occidental, Chevron, and Woodside Energy had an oil discovery. The executives wouldn’t share any details about the discovery. Called the “Bandit” prospect, its located at Green Canyon Block 680, about 125 miles south of the Louisiana coast. The Constitution platform also shared the GC 680 block, which is owned by Occidental. According to a news release by Chevron, Bandit is operated by Occidental, which holds a 45.375% working interest. Chevron has 37.125% working interest, and Woodside Energy Inc has 17.5% working interest Flood insurance Louisiana officials didn’t miss an opportunity to remind federal representatives that flood insurance is plaguing the area. The skyrocketing insurance costs are driving residents out of Terrebonne and Lafourche. “What doesn’t help is we are still eaten up by Risk Rating 2.0,” Orgeron said. “People are leaving this area because they cannot afford their $10,000 flood insurance bill.” He then said the levee systems have protected the communities from flooding. Orgeron pointed toward the levees in the South Lafourche community and told lawmakers that those levees were built by locals’ own tax dollars, without help from the federal government, and it took years for them to be certified. After paying those taxes for protection, now they are still being priced out by insurance companies, he said. Louisiana State Deputy Secretary of the Department of Energy and Natural Resources Stephen Swiber told lawmakers that former President Joe Biden’s administration was to blame. According to Swiber, they rushed the program through and in doing so used inaccurate data. FEMA placing too much weight on proximity to water when determining flood zones, he said, and then denied the public the ability to view how they were being charged — in essence, taxation without representation. “They created an algorithm and said, ‘You can’t see what’s in it,’ even though it determines the flood insurance premiums for millions of Americans, ‘It’s a secret.’ Can you imagine keeping a secret?” Swiber said. The Morgan City native continued, “Really what we know from reverse engineering is that they fudged the numbers. They overweighted proximity to water. In Louisiana we live right next to the water because that’s where the high spots are. That’s where a natural ridge line goes.” Permitting The second major issue was concerns that over regulation due to permitting was heaping on cost to potential projects. The Clean Water Act’s sections 404 and 408 were the primary regulations discussed. Section 404 regulates how dredged material or material used to fill — either water or land — are disposed of, especially in wetlands. Section 408 regulates projects on or near federal property. Those who spoke on the regulations said they need a reform not only because of unnecessary costs, but also due to legal challenges that ultimately fail but drag out project times. Orgeron said the difficulties arise from mitigation requirements, and these directly affect the parish government. Protection and restoration projects both are directly hampered by the mitigation requirements, he said, because mitigation areas must be created even though these projects are being created to protect or rebuild existing land. “If an island washed away 10-years-ago and we want to restore that island, there’s folks that say we have to mitigate to rebuild the island. We need to reform the mitigation requirement,” Orgeron said. “It drives up our expense to fix the coastline and government shouldn’t even have to pay for mitigation costs cuz we are trying to restore what was previously there… It’s completely unnecessary.” Greater Lafourche Port Commission Executive Director Chett Chaisson said the port has been working for over a decade to get a portion of their waterway deepened to 50 feet. Chaisson’s predecessor was pushing for the deepening as far back as 2002. As projects get delayed, the prices increase, Chaisson said. “And we do have an issue in this country with long-term agency bureaucrats that just have no incentive to move the ball forward,” Chaisson said. He said the Army Corps of Engineers has gotten better on it, but he credits that to new people being in charge. Scalise said the problem is that it’s becoming more common that if some government officials cannot deny a request they will leave it unanswered, delaying the project and sometimes effectively killing it. “They can’t justify rejecting your application, but they sure can sit it on their desk,” Scalise said. “Eventually you find out whose desk its been sitting on, and if you shake them up it might move up a few years, and then they’ll approve it… but they don’t have a shot clock on that.” Fesi said there needs to be a deadline on applications that if they are not acted on they immediately take effect, like Louisiana bills sent to Gov. Jeff Landry. Partial government shutdown According to the White House’s website, the partial government shutdown has been going on for 43 days. It started Feb. 14, and therefore has been going on for 55 days. House members returned April 6, but didn’t address the Senate’s funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security. The bill did not include Border Patrol and ICE funding. According to the USA Today Network, the stalemate revolves around the deaths of two American citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, who were shot by federal agents in Minnesota earlier this year. Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy visited Houma, Tuesday, April 7, and said he expected the shutdown to end “soon.” Scalise was asked after the energy meeting and he would not give a prediction of an ending. He said that’s up to the Senate. According to Scalise, House members are demanding that border patrol be funded, and the current plan is to get that done with two bills. “We are looking now at maybe a reconciliation bill combined with an appropriations bill,” he said. “We’ve gotta fund the border side, and yea you wanna fund TSA and FEMA, but you also need to fund the border patrol.” He then said the ball is in the Senate’s court at the moment to get the process going, because they have the power to quicken the process. “So we’ve been talking to them for the last two weeks about what to put in the bill, how to get it moving… and they’re going to fast track it, so let’s see how fast it can move,” he said. This article originally appeared on The Courier: Scalise brings lawmakers to discuss flood insurance, permits Reporting by Colin Campo, Houma Courier-Thibodaux Daily Comet / The Courier USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect ...read more read less