We need a bigger piece of the pie!

TGMC Community Sports Institute provides free CPR and AED Training to local coaches
July 23, 2019
Nicholls football players do good deed to woman in need
July 24, 2019
TGMC Community Sports Institute provides free CPR and AED Training to local coaches
July 23, 2019
Nicholls football players do good deed to woman in need
July 24, 2019

9 times out of 10, the stories you read within this pages play out in the Houma-Thibodaux area.

But this week, a couple pages down, we have a story going on in Washington DC?

Why?


Well, because it affects every, single person reading this newspaper and every, single person who calls the Houma-Thibodaux area home.

Congressmen Cedric Richmond and Garret Graves are working together on a bill that, if passed, would boost the state’s share of offshore energy revenues. This would, if enacted, help our state maintain funding for coastal restoration and flood protection projects in the future.

The request for additional funding is based on math and we believe that both our local congressmen have a point.


Currently, Louisiana receives just 0.407 percent of its oil revenues through sharing programs.

That number falls far short of the 50 percent of energy revenues that land drilling states receive.

Something has to change.


Folks around the country do not realize how important Louisiana — and specifically this area — is to the nation’s energy sustainability.

Gulf energy production accounts for almost 20 percent of the United States’ total crude oil production.

Port Fourchon alone, currently services more than 90 percent of the Gulf’s deepwater oil production and more than 1.5 million barrels of oil per day are transported via pipelines through our port.


It may look like just a little piece of dust on a map, but the work at Port Fourchon is vital to the sustainability of the United States economy.

This production provides the energy that people around the country consumes — the electricity in our houses, the gas in our cars and many of the things we take for granted in our every day lives.

But for us, being that oil and gas hub means jobs for our citizens, food on our local tables and money in the pockets of all of the businesses surrounding the oil and gas industry.


To only receive a fraction of the revenues we generate is wrong and we applaud Congressmen Richmond and Graves for their efforts in bringing home a larger piece of the pie to our area. If the land drilling states get that much more than we do, then something has to change, and we salute the efforts to get the ball rolling to make that change a reality.

Louisiana is at a unique place in its history and to have those funds on-hand to protect our coastal parishes would be huge to sustain our future — and also to sustain our ability to produce energy for the rest of the country.

It’s bigger than us.


We provide the fuel that everyone uses as part of their day-to-day life.

Kudos, Congressmen. Way to look out for our people.

And to the rest of the nation — we’re watching.


It’s time to give us our piece of the pie.

PRAYERS TO VOIRON, LAFOURCHE SCHOOL SYSTEM


On our website this weekend, we were the first local newspaper to report that Lafourche Schools Superintendent Louis Voiron will be leaving his position to take a medical leave of absence.

We, like the public, were shocked to hear the news, as there were no indications that Dr. Voiron was struggling with health issues prior to the announcement.

We, at Rushing Media, would like to publicly offer our thoughts and prayers with Mr. Voiron, as well as our hopeful well-wishes that he’s able to return to work soon with a clean bill of health.


Since taking over the Lafourche School System, we have heard glowing reviews about the work Dr. Voiron is doing from teachers and administrators in the school system.

He, combined with the newly elected school board, have teamed up to help begin to dig Lafourche’s schools out of the financial rut that the parish has been dealt with for the past several years.

And in recent weeks, Lafourche Schools have actually re-enacted their tiered payment increases to employees, which was a huge boost for employees’ morale – especially after the school system scored a high grade last year, one of the best systems in the state of Louisiana.


So to Dr. Voiron, get well soon and know you’re in our thoughts and prayers. Our kids need you, Sir.

So here’s to hoping that you’re back in your position sooner, rather than later. •