Lt. Gov.: Ban an attempt to change energy policy

President Barack Obama’s continued moratorium on deepwater petroleum drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is an attempt to move the United States toward alternative energy at a high economic cost to southern Louisiana, the state’s lieutenant governor says.

During a hearing last Tuesday before the state’s two U.S. senators, Republican David Vitter and Democrat Mary Landrieu, Lt. Gov. Scott Angelle criticized the ban as “a one-size-fits-all-approach” to safety that is having a “cascading impact on the economy.”

Angelle also said the administration wants to take advantage of the Gulf oil spill to enact a major shift in national energy policy.

“This is about an effort to move this country off of hydrocarbons prematurely,” Angelle said.

The hearing was officially a meeting of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. The only committee members present were Landrieu and Vitter.

A similar hearing was held in Washington, D.C., last month, but Landrieu, who chairs the committee, said she wanted to come to Lafayette to hear from community leaders in one of the areas most affected by the drilling moratorium.

Landrieu said the administration’s blanket ban on deepwater drilling “borders on reckless.”

Vitter said the ban only worsens the effect of the disaster itself.

“The economic threat continues more than ever because of this moratorium,” he said.

Although unemployment figures indicate that the worst predictions from the ban – thousands of lost jobs – have yet to happen, witnesses told the committee that the ban has hurt restaurants, retail shops and grocery stores that are sustained by the paychecks of petroleum workers.

Charlie Goodson, owner of Charley G’s restaurant in Lafayette, said that he is preparing for a major slowdown at the high-end eatery he has operated for 25 years. Goodson said his business would try to limp through tough economic times with only a freeze on salaries, hiring and improvements, but a sustained downturn could force him to cut 11 jobs through the discontinuation of lunch service.

“The moratorium casts big doubts over the future of our small business,” he said.

The uncertainty also has cut deeply into the area’s real estate market, said Dewitt David, the commercial sales manager for Van Eaton & Romero, one of the region’s largest real estate firms.

“The perception is that the worst is yet to come, and few clients are in a position to commit to long-term real estate deals not knowing what the future of our economy will bring,” David said.

The ban is effective until Nov. 30, but the administration has said it would consider lifting it earlier.