Port keeps Lafourche growing

Although Lafourche Parish did not have a superb year economically, Parish President Charlotte Randolph said feeding and fueling America continues to be what the parish’s mainstays.

The “Feeding and Fueling America” credo stems from the parish’s contribution to the oil and gas and international seafood industries. Randolph said almost 40 percent of the country’s seafood and approximately 30 percent of the nation’s oil and gas travels through Port Fourchon.

The seafood industry, however, did not have the impact it has in year’s past, according to Randolph.

“Fishermen had a tough year for 2009,” she said. “Hopefully, 2010 will be better. Fishermen certainly have a hard life to begin with and the last thing we want is to see more hardships”

Fortunately, oil and gas remained strong locally over the past year. According to the Lafourche Parish Assessor’s Office, 9 of 10 Lafourche’s top taxpayers are oil and gas- or energy-related.

Each of the top money generators have facilities at Port Fourchon, the hub for the Gulf of Mexico’s offshore energy industry, which is critical to the national economy and security, Randolph said.

Edison Chouest Offshore was the parish’s top taxpayer in 2008. The company operates a growing fleet of new generation offshore service vessels supporting a vast majority of the U.S. Gulf deepwater market.

Randolph said Chouest represents the world’s most diverse, dynamic marine transportation operations, and is a pivotal employer in Lafourche.

“Companies like Chouest and Bollinger (Shipyard) continue to progress in this area because of Port Fourchon,” she said. “The best thing we can do is keep people investing in Fourchon.”

Lafourche Parish uses the royalties it collects from the oil and gas industry to structurally improve its parish. Randolph said structural development was halted at the beginning of the year after the price of oil per barrel took a nosedive.

“The falling gas prices reduced Lafourche’s budget considerably,” she said. “But at the same time, it lowered gasoline prices for the parish to operate. The end result is that Lafourche will not have any new capital projects for 2010 that will be funded through the royalty fund. For 2010, Lafourche will rely on $40 million in Community Development Block Grant funds the parish received for capital projects next year.”

The CDBG was awarded to the parish in the wake of 2008’s back-to-back hurricanes – Gustav and Ike.

Lafourche Parish Finance Director Joel Doty said Lafourche’s royalties took nearly a $6 million hit when price of oil fell.

In the last few months, Randolph said the price of oil has gone back up to near $80 a barrel. But, it still was not enough to make an impact on Lafourche’s royalty budget this year.

Taking a worst-case scenario approach, Doty has budgeted oil per barrel at $25 for 2010. Randolph said any excess monies will be used to buy public works equipment and continue the ongoing capital projects in the parish.

“A lot of this year was spent being reactive rather than proactive,” Doty said. “Lafourche is still dealing with the fallout from the 2008 storms. We are focusing on rebuilding.”

Lafourche Parish was able to complete Galliano Bridge project and a $15 million road project in Road Sales Tax District A in northern and central Lafourche this year. And, the parish is set to begin a $10 million road improvement project in Road Sales Tax District 2 in south Lafourche in December.

“Some of these streets have not been redone in 30 to 40 years,” Randolph said. “The money was there and it was time to improve the streets in the parish. Our first responsibility is to make sure that the people in the parish are safe, and roads are a major part of that.”

Progressing to 2010, Randolph wants the parish to be more structurally sound, addressing drainage, levees and pump station improvements.

“Addressing flooding is one of the concerns for 2010,” Randolph said. “The parish will start two coastal projects, a small dredge project in south Lafourche and a lake marsh creation project near the Lockport to Larose levee system.”

“We are approaching 2010 with a lean budget,” she added, “and knowing that capital projects will only be funded through external funds gives us hope that Lafourche will weather the storm. We will just have to watch 2010 closely.”