More than 15 months after the Obama administration lifted its ban on offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, oil and gas supply and service companies report they are suffering significant financial hardships from the government’s actions. The moratorium — as well as the slow pace of permitting that followed — have suffocated businesses, costing jeopardizing millions in business revenue and even forcing some to close their doors, according to a survey conducted by Greater New Orleans Inc. Louisiana, home to 88 percent of the country’s offshore rigs, has absorbed …
Few people have been more vocal about the challenges facing offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico than Sen. David Vitter. As a Republican from Louisiana, Vitter has firsthand knowledge of the Obama administration’s slow pace of permitting since last year’s oil spill. Louisiana has yet to fully recover from the drilling moratorium and the subsequent delays stemming from Washington. This week marked the first offshore lease sale in nearly two years — a sign of progress. However, bureaucrats are still taking 115 days to approve plans, nearly twice as …
A new report from a New Orleans-based group reveals that the Obama administration is approving just 35 percent of the oil drilling plans for the Gulf of Mexico so far this year. It is also taking an average of 115 days — nearly four months — to secure approval from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. Those numbers contrast sharply from previous years. This historical average is a 73.4% approval rate. The approval time has nearly doubled; the historical average is 61 days for the government to approve …
The Obama administration is approving only 37 percent of the deepwater drilling plans submitted this year — a figure that falls below even last year’s low approval rate. It’s also taking federal bureaucrats an average of 115 days to approve the plans, nearly double the historical average. Greater New Orleans Inc. reported the numbers as part of its Gulf Permit Index, a measure of permit issuance. The data was provided by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement, which oversees shallow-water and deepwater permits. Last year’s numbers were …
Five years ago ABC aired “The Path to 9/11,” a five-hour docudrama that explained how terrorists plotted to attack America on that frightful September morning in 2001. The movie sparked protests and attempts to stop ABC from showing it. Former President Bill Clinton was among those most displeased. As America marks the 10th anniversary of 9/11, the movie remains under lock and key at ABC. The network never released it on DVD. In fact, last week’s screening at The Heritage Foundation was the first public showing of the film since its …
Over the last several weeks, students, families, and advocates of education reform have witnessed exciting steps forward by numerous states to expand education options. Arizona, Indiana, Oklahoma, and Utah (among others) have implemented strategies to expand school choice and give children greater hope for a quality education. Unfortunately, Louisiana may be going in just the opposite direction by attempting to eliminate the only school choice program in the state. The Louisiana House Appropriations Committee has proposed to cut funding for the Student Scholarships for Educational Excellence program, which provides scholarships …
On the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, credit for New Orleans’s ongoing recovery continues to go to the grassroots, not the federal government. Grassroots had the reflexes and staying power that government did not. There’s no question that the disaster and aftermath of Katrina lifted the veil on a dysfunctional system. Katrina revealed a city full of schools that didn’t work, corruption, weak infrastructure, and issues of race and class. But it’s also a story of people from all kinds of backgrounds coming together to fix problems—and that’s why New …
Hurricane Katrina destroyed more than just buildings. Left with scarce resources and personnel, local government in New Orleans became weak and ineffective in the aftermath of the flooding. Five years later, the rebuilding of New Orleans is far from complete, but reformers can point to at least one major accomplishment: a new school system built around charter schools and parental choice. As a recent Newsweek article explains in some detail, Louisiana established the Recovery School District (RSD) to replace the old school system in New Orleans. Eschewing centralized control, RSD …
Our friends at ReasonTV have put out a great new video highlighting the strides that have been made towards school choice in New Orleans following the Hurricane Katrina disaster. As ReasonTV Editor Nick Gillespie says in the video, few people could have predicted the improvements in education that would result, but “sometimes things get so bad that radical change can happen.” Before Katrina, the New Orleans school system was in terrible shape. As one mother explains, when they were displaced to Baton Rouge during the cleanup, she found much better schools …
NEW ORLEANS — Every day at 9 a.m. the Mary Queen of Vietnam community center opens its doors to distribute 25 food vouchers. Several weeks ago people started lining up at 5 a.m. Now the line forms at 2 a.m. This is not the life these proud fishermen envisioned when they settled in eastern New Orleans from Vietnam, but it is reality in the aftermath of the oil spill in the Gulf. Asian-Americans constitute about one-third of all commercial fishermen in the region. Today, many endure the long wait outside …
