Louisiana governor at odds with Biden over oil, gas policy

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Gov. John Bel Edwards disagrees with President Joe Biden's targeting of fossil fuel industries and wants the White House to reconsider its decision to pause new oil and gas drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico, the Louisiana governor's administration said Wednesday.

Biden's approach to oil and gas strikes at one of Louisiana's economic engines and an industry that is a chief financial backer of the state's coastal restoration work, putting the Democratic governor at odds with a president within his own party.

The governor's top lawyer, coastal adviser and natural resources secretary told state lawmakers that Edwards thinks Biden's moratorium on new oil and gas drilling leases on federal land and waters is the wrong approach to combat climate change.

Environmental groups have lauded Biden's approach, arguing that it is the kind of bold, urgent action needed to slow climate change, which has been linked to droughts, devastating wildfires and a rising number of hurricanes that have pummeled the region.

Edwards this week, however, voiced concerns about the moratorium to Biden’s energy secretary pick, Jennifer Granholm, according to Louisiana Natural Resources Secretary Thomas Harris.

“I know he’s arguing. He’s working it every day. He’s constantly calling me looking for new ammunition” to make his case to the Biden administration, Harris said.

But lawmakers on the state House and Senate natural resources committees pushed Edwards to make a direct appeal to Biden, noting that as the only Democratic governor in the Deep South he could have more sway with the president.

“We've got to do something, talk to somebody and make some moves,” said Sen. Mike Fesi, a Houma Republican who owns an oil and gas pipeline construction and...