Jindal calls for action, not more studies

Gov Bobby Jindal praised Louisianans and issued a staunch message to Capitol Hill as he addressed a small crowd Monday at the St. Mary Parish Courthouse.

Calling the people of Louisiana “resilient” and “generous” and “pillars of strength,” Jindal said he is sending a message to Washington, D.C.: “We don’t need any more studies, it’s time to protect our people.”

“It’s a shame when local restaurateurs can cook meals for thousands, and that cost is less than what it costs the federal government to make MREs,” the governor said. “And it cuts deeper when you know that these restaurateurs live in the state that provides the federal government with its second largest source of revenue.”

Jindal called on the Federal government to bring Louisiana’s share of revenues generated by offshore drilling in line.

“We can’t even collect 50 percent of the royalties like other states do,” he said. “Just think if we had that money, if we had all the money owed us since drilling began off of our coasts – the protection we would have along our coast.”

Jindal also told the crowd that hurricane protection “has been studied to death. We need action, not more analysis from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.”

Franklin City Councilman Kenny Scelfo reiterated Jindal’s call to the Corps, citing documents from 1997 that were sent to then-St. Mary Parish President Oray Rogers, which said the Corps had completed a preliminary analysis of a plan that would have put sector gates with 45-foot openings in the Franklin and Hanson canals.

Scelfo’s comments come in the wake of massive flooding from Franklin through Garden City Saturday.

The area has no floodgates, leaving it vulnerable to rising tides caused this weekend by Hurricane Ike.

Jindal calls for action, not more studies