Sponsored by
America’s Energy Coast
Working Toward New Energy and Ecological Sustainability
For the Gulf Coast
With so much attention being paid to U.S. energy policy, it may come as a surprise that the majority of our nation’s offshore energy supply is produced in just four states, known as America’s Energy Coast. Centuries of erosion and damage to theGulfCoast nowpose a real and immediate threat to the future of our energy stability. Fortunately, an alliance of business executives, nongovernmental organization leaders and elected officials has come forward to protect and rebuild this delicate and vital region—but they can’t do it alone.
For thousands of years—starting long before the building of
the pyramids and continuing through the Dark Ages and
the Industrial Revolution — Mississippi River floodwaters
annually deposited sediment, slowly building the deltaic land
from southern Missouri through the Gulf Coast.
But following the greatMississippi flood of 1927, the U.S. built
the levee system and jetties that sent sediment into the deep
waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Robbed of annual replenishment,
coastal marshes began eroding into the Gulf at the rate of a
football field every 38 minutes. Since 1932, an area of land
equivalent to that of the state of Delaware has disappeared.
Former Louisiana GovernorMike Foster sounded a clarion call
in 2001 and launched the America’s WETLAND Foundation
(AWF) to inform the nation about the plight of the Gulf Coast
region and the loss of national assets.
Then, in 2005, the grave lessons of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
drove home the coast’s national importance. Gasoline, grain and
seafood prices spiked. The AWF had so successfully delivered news to
the media that land loss was a prominent part of coverage.
The America’s Energy Coast Accord
Today,the vulnerable states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and
Alabama, which contribute 90% of the nation’s offshore energy
production, 30% of its energy supplies and 30% of its seafood, are
joining together as “America’s Energy Coast”(AEC) and forming
a new accord for sustaining the Gulf region. Launched by the
AWF, the AEC is a unique initiative created to bring divergent
interests together to help educate America, shape public policy
and speak with one voice inWashington.
“The Gulf Coast region has a proud history of providing energy
for our nation,”says Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. “However,
the hurricanes of 2005 showed us all the price we pay for the loss
of our coastal wetlands and marshes.”
No Political Divide on Coastal Issues
Jindal, a Republican, and U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu of New
Orleans, a Democrat, both support the Gulf Coast initiative,
demonstrating nonpartisan unity.
“Without a healthy, sustainable coast, there can be no energy
production, fisheries, ports and transportation routes to carry the
nation’s commerce or wildlife habitat for thousands of different
species of animals and plants,” Jindal says.
Landrieu, who partnered with former U.S. Senator Trent
Lott (R-Miss.), both serving as honorary AEC chairs, says it
became clear years ago that the four energy-producing Gulf
Coast states “really had so much in common and had been, through the years, so short-changed.
“When Katrina and Rita hit, that
forged the idea for the AEC,”Landrieu
says. “When our infrastructure goes
down, your lights go out. When the
Mississippi River ports shut down, you
feel it everywhere.”
R. King Milling, a New Orleans banker
who chairs the foundation, says energy,
shipping and fisheries are assets common
to the four states. “We are all faced with
the same reality that there are natural and
governmental forces that work against us,”
Milling says. “We need to put all these
resources together and really begin to
speak with a shared voice.”
J. Wayne Leonard
Chairman and CEO
Entergy Corporation
At Entergy, we continue to implement a comprehensive environmental strategy that was initially launched in 2001.
Solidarity Among Gulf Coast Citizens
National pollster Jim Kitchens found
regional solidarity in a recent poll of 1,200
residents of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi
and Alabama:
• 86% say the federal government
should protect the coastal areas that
provide energy to the nation;
• 75% think coastal communities that
support the offshore production industry
should receive extra impact aid;
• 84% say America takes for granted the
role the energy-producing states have
in national security.
“It is just a lack of knowledge of how
critical this area is to the nation’s security,”
says Mark Hurley of Houston, president
of Shell Pipeline Co. and AEC Industry
Council chair. “I want the AEC to be a
forum for the challenges of sustaining the
coast as a supplier of the nation’s energy
needs. To solve the numerous problems
we face along the Gulf Coast, we have to
find common ground that will be the basis
for solutions.”
The rich Gulf Coast eco-culture is a
national asset. “This is an international
ecological treasure that in itself is worth
saving,” Hurley adds.
Historically Opposing Interests Help Forge AEC Accord
ValsinMarmillion, an AEC leader, says
critics doubted opposing interests could
sit in the same room for balanced dialogue.
“But over the past year, energy, environmental,
conservation, civic, governmental
and research representatives have taken
their seats at the table, and the first accord
for a new sustainability of the Gulf Coast
is imminent,”Marmillion says.
Collaboration is a necessity, says Melody
Meyer, president of Chevron Energy
Technology in Houston. “This region
impacts all we do as an energy provider.
There is a need for all interests to have a
seat at the table. That’s how we’ll find and
implement real solutions.”
ConocoPhillips, the largest private
owner of wetlands in the U.S. and one of
the largest landowners in south Louisiana,
has operations in all four states that make
up America’s Energy Coast, explains Jim
Knudsen, president of the company’s
Lower 48 exploration and production
organization.“In today’s changing business,
political and environmental landscapes,
we know it is imperative that we work
together with all interested parties to make sure this coastal region is protected
and sustained,” he says.
Unified, Natural Solutions Needed
Problems of energy production,climate
change and the eroding coast must be
examined as a whole,not individually,says
Louisiana State University oceanography
professor Robert Twilley, an AEC leader.
“We need more natural approaches,
environmental engineering solutions that
include harnessing the power of the
Mississippi to replenish the marshes. But
it must not damage navigation. The whole
idea is to take the benefits of one sector
and make sure they accrue to the benefit
of other sectors,”Twilley explains.
Producing energy and protecting the
environment are not mutually exclusive,
says Jerry Patterson, Texas Land Office
commissioner and an AEC steering
committee member. “Considering the
strategic importance of the Gulf Coast to
U.S. energy security and the global importance
of the sensitive Gulf ecosystem, we
must look at this region’s coastal policies
in the long term,” he says.
Environmental Concerns Are a Critical Part of Accord
The ecosystem is threatened, says Bill
Walker, director of the Mississippi Department
of Marine Resources in Biloxi. “Issues
like habitat restoration and water quality are
directly related to the amount of wetlands
— and those issues are not constrained by
political boundaries. We realize whatever is
good for one state in that consortium is
good for all the states,” he says.
The National Wildlife Federation’s
Susan Kaderka, an AEC member, says
U.S. investment in the coast will pay off.
“The landscape of the Gulf Coast is a
national treasure—an ecological,economic
and cultural treasure that is slipping away.
As a country we need to understand that
restoring this landscape is not just a big
expense; it’s an important investment that
will yield returns for generations to come,”
Kaderka says.
Shipping Is a Major Concern
Port of New Orleans Director Gary
LaGrange notes that 10 of the nation’s
top 14 ports are along the Gulf Coast. The
Mississippi River is the trunk of a 14,500-mile navigation system. The Gulf
Intracoastal Water Way is a 15,000-mile
system.Both are endangered.
“If you want something to work in
Washington, you have to have a coalition,”
LaGrange says. “You are not effective
when you speak state by state.”
The Gulf IntracoastalWaterWay is vulnerable,
says Raymond Butler ofHouston,
director of the Gulf Intracoastal Canal
Association. “This system is moving 123
million tons of goods a year, most of it
petroleum or petrochemical products.
Erosion is one of our major problems…
we are hoping to direct some action
from Congress.”
Another issue is that the maritime
industry is challenged by a lack of qualified
personnel,while onshore fabrication infrastructure
is threatened.
“There is a worldwide shortage of
mariners,”says Sam Giberga, chief administrative
officer of Hornbeck Marine, a
major offshore service company. “We see
the need for high-level, integrated
thinking about issues that will affect us
for the next 100 years, all the way from
the need for mariners to the land loss.”
Action must be swift, Twilley warns:
“There is a certain urgency because we are
facing challenges today that other coastal
states will not face for another 25 or 30
years.What we do or fail to do will have
lasting consequences — and we won’t be
able to turn back the clock.”
For more information about the America’s WETLAND
Foundation, go to www.americaswetland.com.
Formore information about the AWF’s America’s Energy Coast initiative,
go to www.americasenergycoast.org.
Bob Ridge
Vice President of Health, Safety and Environment
ConocoPhillips
ConocoPhillips is committed to protecting the environment.