Ready Today, Ready for Tomorrow

Chiasson Reflects on Port Fourchon in 2020 and Highlights Its Promising Future

By Chett Chiasson, MPA, Executive Director, Greater Lafourche Port Commission

With everything that has happened in 2020, it makes sense for me to update everyone on where we stand as a Port Commission following all these events.

Let me preface both these topics by leaning on our slogan at Port Fourchon, which is Ready Today, Ready for Tomorrow.

This year’s hurricane season bought us many challenges with five glancing blows and a direct hit.  All of them caused some sort of disruption to our community and Port Fourchon by cutting off access with water overtopping LA 1 between Golden Meadow and Leeville. Although Port Fourchon took a hard hit and sustained damage as a result of Hurricane Zeta’s direct hit, our tenants and users returned to work and power was totally restored to the Port very quickly thanks to the amazing work that was performed by GLPC Staff, Tenant Facility Employees, and our partners at Entergy that got us back up and running in short order.

As for the presidential election, we pledge to work with the new administration as we continue to demonstrate why we play such an important role in meeting and providing for this country’s energy demands today, tomorrow, and into the future as well.

We all know President Donald J. Trump was an ally for those working in the energy industry. With this said, we also believe President-elect Joseph R. Biden can be as well knowing that he understands fully that all forms of energy must be explored and pursued as a country in order to keep us on a trajectory to remain energy independent as a Nation. 

Throughout his campaign, Mr. Biden spoke of shifting away from oil and gas over time, but he knows that eliminating oil and gas completely is not an option. At the end of the day, ridding ourselves of oil and gas is simply impossible, and we will go on believing this because we know it to be true.  None of the many products, services, etc. that we utilize in everyday life would be possible as most everything is made with petroleum products….this is just reality.

For a Port that services nearly 100% of all Deepwater offshore energy exploration and production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, it is our job to make sure Mr. Biden and his administration understands our continued importance to this country.

Furthermore, we embrace the opportunity to work in collaboration with an incoming administration that is willing to listen, and to put our future successes as a country over any sort of non-sensible policies that would seek to undermine our country’s progress as an energy leader on the world stage. 

There is no doubt that COVID-19, the many storm threats we faced this hurricane season, and a struggling economy has not made any of our lives easy.

Despite this, we remain confident that our tomorrow is full of the promise that comes with the announcement of significant projects such as the completion of the elevated highway leading to Port Fourchon, the construction of an Airport Bridge and Connector Road, and continued investments in developments of bulkheads.

These investments when combined with significant dredging of the waterways leading in and out of Port Fourchon constitute an economic return estimated at more than $1.7 billion in public and private investment over the next decade.  Add that to the already amazing impact of Port Fourchon to the tune of $46 million daily to the Oil and Gas and $500 million daily to the National GDP.   

In the coming year, you will see us debut a new logo that will more clearly tell the story of our ever-evolving Port. This image was created with the purpose of setting us apart from other ports because we are unlike any Port in the sense that we not only service the oil and gas industry, but serve as an environmental hub where wildlife and nature flourish in such a way to where you have a hard time distinguishing which one is valued more because each co-habitats seamlessly together. •