In the News

Louisiana's congressional delegation blasted President Joe Biden's moratorium on new drilling on U.S. lands and waters with one member calling it a "war on oil and gas."

The state's two senators — Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy — and Congressmen Garret Graves, Clay Higgins, Mike Johnson and Steve Scalise are all Republicans. Two of Louisiana's congressional seats — the 2nd District and 5th District — are open with special elections scheduled March 20.

Biden's moratorium issued through executive order Wednesday follows his initial 60-day suspension of new drilling permits for U.S. lands and waters, including the Gulf of Mexico, announced last week.

"His war on oil and gas is just beginning," Republican Acadiana Congressman Clay Higgins said in a text to USA Today network. "His 'energy policy' will be bad for America, bad for the world's ecology … and good for China.”

The president said his action is intended to allow time for his administration to review the impact of oil and gas drilling on the environment and climate.

Biden has pledged to be the most aggressive president on climate change, which he has called "an existential threat." His goal is to decarbonize the U.S. power sector by 2035 on the way to reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Industry: Order 'knee-caps' production

An American Petroleum Institute analysis shows an extended drilling ban would impact the Gulf Coast the hardest, estimating 48,000 job losses in Louisiana alone by 2022. The oil-and-gas industry supported more than 249,800 jobs and contributed more than $73 billion to Louisiana’s economy in 2018, the study says.

Graves said Biden's order "knee-caps" offshore energy production. Seventeen percent of America's production comes from the Gulf of Mexico.

"… today's announcement shows that excluding Louisiana from the energy production negotiations and implementing a half-baked moratorium is not in our country’s best interest," he said. "The energy industry has been absolutely blindsided yet again, and this decision today doesn’t add up." 

Biden has also halted a permit for construction of the Keystone XL pipeline that would run from Canada to Texas and rejoined the Paris Climate Change Accord, a plan to address reducing greenhouse gas emissions that includes 200 nations.

Many Republicans believe the Paris accord unfairly limits American job and economic growth with little concrete return.

“By unilaterally killing the Keystone Pipeline, recommitting the U.S. to the lopsided Paris Climate Change Accords, and now freezing energy production on our federal lands — in just his first week in office — President Biden has already ensured that he will raise energy prices, eliminate energy jobs and make our country more dependent on foreign oil," said Fourth District Congressman Mike Johnson of Benton.

"Of course, none of these outrageous actions will achieve his stated goal of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. If there was any doubt whether President Biden is going to side with climate activists or working families, the answer is now crystal clear,” Johnson said.

Cassidy has said Biden has placed "a target" on the oil and gas industry that could create a recession.

He tweeted as Biden was announcing his plan: "Biden is in the White House explaining that the jobs that will replace the ones his energy policies are taking away depend on technology that hasn’t been invented yet."

Scalise, Louisiana's highest ranking member in the House as the minority whip, called Biden's plan "radical" and "scary."

"And that was just Week 1," Scalise tweeted.

Kennedy called Biden's order "unwise, unfair and insulting to every Louisianan."

"President Biden’s war against Louisiana jobs and America’s energy independence is astonishing, and it’s short-sighted," Kennedy said.