Congressman Steve Scalise Visits Danos Facility

On Monday, February 8, Congressman Steve Scalise (R-La.), along with representatives of the South Central Industrial Association (SCIA) and Port Fourchon, visited the Danos fabrication facility in Larose.

Danos said in a statement that the representatives were there to learn about potential impacts the Biden administration’s decisions may have on south Louisiana and the generational workforce that relies on the oil and gas industry to support their families.

On Jan. 20, Inauguration Day, Biden’s administration issued a 60-day ban on new oil and gas leases and permits on federal onshore and offshore lands while it evaluates the legal and policy implications of the program.

The move was met with much opposition from local business leaders and elected officials.

Scalise, who has vocalized his disapproval of the president’s decisions regarding oil and gas, also attended a virtual SCIA meeting that same day.

“We had literally become energy sufficient to the point where we were exporting oil and natural gas all around the world,” he said. “We don’t want to see our state go backward, and this is going to be something that we continue to be very vocal about.”

Scalise also said during the meeting that the best chance for the president’s energy policies to be reversed is for people from both sides of the aisle to advocate for American oil and gas production.

“I think the Biden administration is going to find out very quickly that this is an industry that has a lot of support from a lot of different areas of the country. And the more we get unified and vocalize that opposition, the more chance we have to reverse it,” he said.

“For example, the permit moratorium is 60 days. Will they renew it? Will they let it go away and get back to a normal permitting regime? We’ll see,” he continued. “But the more noise we make between now and then, the better opportunity we have to reverse both the leasing ban and the permit ban.”