Two state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries commissioners — who also happen to be Acadiana lawyers — are using their statewide legal contacts to find someone willing to sue the state.
The Advocate’s outdoor writer Joe Macaluso writes that the WL&F Commission is livid over the Jindal administration’s move to strip $26.4 million from the state’s Artificial Reef Development Fund Program. According to the LW&F website, the program, which transforms obsolete, abandoned oil platforms into artificial reefs that support marine habitat, is a win-win for oil and gas companies and the Gulf’s marine life. For oil companies, funding artificial reefs on now defunct platforms is a cheaper alternative to removing the platforms from the Gulf within a year of their closure, as federal law mandates:
Since the program’s inception, 65 offshore reef sites utilizing the jackets of 263 obsolete platforms have been created off Louisiana’s coast. The use of obsolete oil and gas platforms in Louisiana has proved to be highly successful. Their large numbers, design, longevity and stability have provided a number of advantages over the use of traditional artificial reef materials. The participating companies also save money by converting the structure into a reef rather than abandoning it onshore and are required to donate a portion of the savings to operate the state program.
The major funding loss was part of a House bill that diverted $108.2 million from several state agencies to cover shortfalls in the state’s general fund. But commissioners argue that the program has received roughly $50 million in private donations from oil and gas companies since the program began in 1986:
Acting Commission Chairman Patrick Morrow, a lawyer from Opelousas, asked for a resolution to establish a special three-man committee inside the commission to “… engage outside counsel to represent the commission at no charge.”
Morrow, with the support of the Louisiana Wildlife Federation and other sportsmen’s groups, said he knows of attorneys across the state who are ready to pursue the matter. He said his study of the bill made him believe the Artificial Reed Fund is afforded the same constitutional protection as the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ Conservation Fund.
Commission member Stephen Oats, a Lafayette lawyer, offered the motion to “… authorize the committee to pursue legal action to prevent taking these funds. We have to remember that the Legislature took $18 million from this fund last year. This is a necessary step. It’s clear that this is Conservation Fund money and this needs to be looked at through our legal process.”
Read more here.
JUNE 17 If anyone ever wonders why Saints fans hate Atlanta with a capital H, here's a good indication. Radio "professionals" at an Atlanta station created an entire segment around making fun of former Saints player Steve Gleason, who is now paralyzed by ALS. Listen, nobody's ever accused DJs of being rocket scientists. But how could someone think it is amusing to pretend to ask a man with a degenerative, fatal disease if he will be alive next week? The DJs have been fired, and are now whining about how gutless their former bosses are. Wow.
JUNE 18 Here's the latest from the Advocate on the fatal hit-and-run accident allegedly involving the president of the Livingston Parish School Board. He's accused by police of hitting a 21-year-old man on a highway early Sunday and driving away. The man died at a hospital later. On Monday, police seized the president's truck and towed it away. But he's available for board meetings: apparently a $500 bond is sufficient for this type of thing over in St. Helena Parish.
JUNE 18 Former broadcast journalist Griffin Scott has posted this plea on his blog for financial assistance from his readers. Scott, who says he was fired after he wrote something fairly innocuous (for Facebook) on his wall, is suing a media giant for his job back. He's framed himself as David going after a bloated media giant, and he's probably not far off.
JUNE 18 Here's a fairly absurd column posted on DIG Magazine about the completely absurd practice of naming killer storms. Tornadoes don't have names. Blizzards don't have names. But hurricanes do, and there's a big process to bestow them, Jacques Cormery writes. He's right about the crazy assemblage of names -- this year, there's everything from Tanya to Humberto -- and his idea that we don't waste good names on killer storms is a good one.
JUNE 17 Political columnist John Maginnis has some advice for Louisiana Republicans: grow up. After the schism that occurred in this past session - fiscal hawks teaming up with Democrats to spank the Republican "majority" and hand Gov. Jindal his, er, aspirations for continued solon control -- they need to figure out how to get along with each other, Maginnis writes.
JUNE 17 Here's the Picayune's obit story for Dorothy 'Miss Dot' Domilise, the lady who made poboys at the uptown restaurant that bears her name. Miss Dot moved to New Orleans during World War II, where she met and married her husband Sam. When she passed away Friday she was 90, and had spent more than 60 of those years working at the restaurant on Annunciation Street.
JUNE 17 This editorial in the Advocate speaks in favor of the consent decrees that have federal judges overseeing police operations and the sheriff's parish prison in New Orleans. Mayor Landrieu and Sheriff Gusman can't get along, so outside forces, like the Inspector General and the judges, are needed to make sure things run right, the editorial opines.
JUNE 18 Here's a post from Manny Schewitz on Forward Progressives that is good for a chuckle. Manny had an epiphany back in November, and is sharing it with us today: he believes that Fox "News" is killing the GOP by pandering to right wing nuts. Now, don't get it twisted: Manny's not broke up about it. He says he enjoys watching the downward spiral with a shot of whiskey and "a schadenfreude chaser."
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