“We’ve really done a lot…thanks to CPRA (the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority).”
—House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Rep. Gordon Dove (R-Houma), who also is a member of the CPRA, commenting prior to his vote in favor of an amendment to SB 469 which would make the prohibition against suing oil companies for damages to the state’s wetlands retroactive to include the year-old lawsuit against 97 oil companies by the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East (SLFPA-E). (While he was busy patting himself on the back for his accomplishments in protecting Louisiana’s wetlands, one of his trucking companies was being cited by the State of Montana for dumping radioactive waste in that state.)
“This bill is a 110 percent get out of jail free card.”
—SLFPA-E attorney Gladstone Jones, offering his opinion of SB 469 during Sunday’s committee hearing.
Louisiana Voice 
The center of this conversation has been the focus on BP in LA. Look further, things are moving elsewhere – TX, AL, FL. The spills have surfaced in these states also with no remediation by these states. Big OIL has its worker bees covering all wetlands within these states. Face it, Big Oil is destroying our wetlands, fishing, economics, etc. I can’t tell you the last time I saw a Blue Crab in TX. I live in the Coastal Bend. The shrimp boats are bringing in less and less. Nothing is being done. The majority of workers are from LA and reside temporarily in TX in rented RVs. No one mentions dead zones. Millions are spent on fishing. The average fisherman who fishes offshore with charter boats ts returning with less and less. Millions are spent on fishing equipment and yet on the shores, I see no fish being caught. The majority of fish, shrimp, oysters are bought overseas, then frozen. Everything you order off menus here are pre-frozen and not fresh. There are fewer operating shrimp boats in Rockport, Fulton, Corpus Christi areas. Limited red fish and trout. Residential areas are surrounded by Big Oil companies’ holding tanks, huge pipelines, fires flaring, day and night. Save your wetlands, LA; Texas is not interested in such things as fighting EPA for lessor restrictions on Big Oil Companies. It takes years to get on court dockets for soil samples, clean-up responsibility, which are then thrown out. Neighborhoods have been destroyed, sold at below value to make room for more leaking tanks, explosions, death. TX suffers through droughts but the fracking companies live free and easy, many times using all water from the gulf, rivers, ponds at taxpayers expense that keeps rising. Soon there will be no water to fish. Pay attention, look to Texas as repeat offenders. It imports mostly from LA and Mexico. Guard your wetlands, protect your natural resources.
Gordon Dove does not just receive campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry. He owns, Vacco Marine, a wastewater treatment facility in Houma that services the oil and gas industry. LA DEQ issued found that he violated his water permit, but he wasn’t fined because…he’s on the environmental committee. That toad is a real piece of work.