2011-0110
INTRODUCED BY: DENNIS NUSS, COUNCILMAN, DISTRICT VII
RESOLUTION NO. ___________
Title
A resolution to urge the Louisiana State Legislature and Governor Bobby Jindal to create one Coastal Congressional District so that Coastal Louisiana can be represented by one voice in Congress.
Body
WHEREAS, the Great State of Louisiana's commercial fisheries account for one third of commercial fishing in the United States with the State's catch regularly exceeding one billion pounds and $300 million in dockside value; and,
WHEREAS, sport-fishing provides $700 million to $1.2 billion to the Great State of Louisiana's economy, the vast majority of this revenue coming from Coastal Louisiana; and,
WHEREAS, alligator harvesting and coastal trapping generates $30 million and $2 million, respectively, in annual economic activity; and,
WHEREAS, almost 25 percent of the oil and gas consumed in the United States and 80 percent of the oil and gas recovered from our nation's offshore reserves travels through Coastal Louisiana before it is used to power our nation's economy; and,
WHEREAS, the oil and gas industry directly or indirectly employs 320,000 or one in three Louisianans and supplies these families with $12.7 billion in annual household income, amounting to more than 15 percent of Louisiana's total household income. The vast majority of these jobs, and virtually all of the 58,000 Louisianans that work extraction, pipeline and refining jobs are residents of Coastal Louisiana; and,
WHEREAS, many of the offshore drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico are serviced through Coastal Louisiana's Port Fouchon making it the largest port by tonnage in the Western Hemisphere; and,
WHEREAS, the Great State of Louisiana ranks first in the nation in total shipping tonnage, almost all of this cargo is loaded on a ocean-going ship or transferred from a barge to a ship in a Coastal Louisiana port, the remaining cargo is transported through Coastal Louisiana along the Mississippi River or Gulf Intracoastal Waterway; and,
WHEREAS, the Great State of Louisiana also ranks first in the nation in maritime employment, with 61,956 jobs in the maritime industry, more than half of these individuals residing in Coastal Louisiana; and,
WHEREAS, Coastal Louisiana contains 40 percent of the coastal wetlands found in the continental United States providing habitat for more than 5 million migratory waterfowl and many threatened or endangered species; and,
WHEREAS, wildlife harvesting and watching in these wetlands provides $1.2 billion in retail sales and sales taxes and provides jobs to more than 16,000 Louisianans; and,
WHEREAS, Coastal Louisiana's wetlands are disappearing at an alarming rate, 1,500 square miles in the last 50 years and 40 square miles per year, every year for the last few decades; and,
WHEREAS, if the factors causing this erosion are not rectified, Coastal Louisiana stands to lose an additional 1,000 square miles-an area the size of the State of Rhode Island; and,
WHEREAS, continued erosion of our wetlands will subject 2 million Louisianans to more damaging and deadly floods and hurricanes; and,
WHEREAS, Coastal Louisiana continues to feel the affect of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the 2010 BP oil spill; and,
WHEREAS, over the course of centuries, the close-knit population of Coastal Louisiana has developed unique traditions and industries from this district environment; and,
WHEREAS, through the hard work and sacrifice of local residents, these industries have become vital to the economic future of the Great State of Louisiana and the entire United States; and,
WHEREAS, Coastal Louisiana is susceptible to and endangered by natural disasters, manmade accidents and coastal erosion; and,
WHEREAS, the people of Coastal Louisiana have remained resilient through all these challenges.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, THAT WE, THE MEMBERS OF THE ST. CHARLES PARISH COUNCIL AND THE PARISH PRESIDENT, do hereby urge the Louisiana State Legislature and Governor Bobby Jindal to create one Coastal Congressional District so that Coastal Louisiana can be represented by one voice in Congress whose priority is our Coast and the commonalities that bind our communities.
Vote
The foregoing resolution having been submitted to a vote, the vote thereon was as follows:
And the resolution was declared adopted this day of , 2011 to become effective five (5) days after publication in the Official Journal.
Coastal Congressional District
CHAIRMAN:
SECRETARY:
DLVD/PARISH PRESIDENT:
APPROVED : DISAPPROVED:
PARISH PRESIDENT:
RETD/SECRETARY:
AT: RECD BY: