Gulf Coast communities and oil drilling: Who really pays the price for new offshore leases?

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Today's episode is the third
installation of talking about the US

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offshore oil and gas drilling plan.

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This is different than the other two
that we've done because it really

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focuses on the Gulf of Mexico and the
people around the Gulf of Mexico and

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how the oil industry has treated the
people in the Gulf of Mexico area over

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the years, especially in Louisiana.

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We're gonna be talking to Scott.

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S. Of the Healthy Gulf organization
and he is coming to us from

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Louisiana, born and raised.

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His grandfather used to drill for
oil and has seen the damage that

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has been done and how promises
weren't made by the oil industry.

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And we're gonna talk about why
that's such an important part of.

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Speaking up and speaking out against
this new leasing plan, not only

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from what's happened in the past,
but what it can do in the future.

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We're gonna talk about that
on today's episode of the How

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to Protect the Ocean Podcast.

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Let's start the show.

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Hey everybody.

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Welcome back to another exciting episode
of the How to Protect the Ocean Podcast.

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I'm your host, Andrew Lewin, Marine
biologist and science communicator

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here to tell you what's happening with
the Ocean, how you can speak up for

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the Ocean, and what you can do to live
for a better Ocean by taking action.

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Now on today's episode, we're gonna
be talking about the US oil and gas

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drilling plan and the leasing permits
that have been put out, pretty much

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covering over a billion acres of the us.

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Ocean, like what they manage within
their exclusive economic zone.

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We're gonna be talking to Scott Ess.

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He is the community science director
of Healthy Gulf that manages and looks

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after the Gulf of not America, of Mexico.

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He's been living in Louisiana
and his grandfather even lived in

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Louisiana, grew up in Louisiana
and drilled for oil in Louisiana.

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And he tells a story
in this episode of how.

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His grandfather saw what had been
done, like what they created, And

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then also how it was left and how
it continues to be left, and we're

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gonna be really focusing here.

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I wanted to pay particular attention
how he focuses of how the oil and

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gas industry are not taking care of
things that they have done in the past.

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Oil wells that they've drilled.

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They're not decommissioning them.

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That means they're not shutting them down
properly, but they want to drill for more.

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They want to get leases for more.

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They also talk about how
some leasing strategies.

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Are not tied to drilling at all,
but tied to borrowing more money.

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It's really interesting to talk about
what is happening in the oil and gas

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industry in the Gulf of Mexico, but also
to see what has happened to the people

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and how the people have been treated
over the last number of decades that

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the oil and gas industry has been in
Louisiana as well as the Gulf States.

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So we're gonna talk.

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All about that with Scott, and
this is an ongoing, uh, series.

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I'm gonna be talking to other
people hopefully in Alaska.

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I've got another piece that might be
coming up with the Gulf States as well.

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It's all surrounding how the oil and
gas industry affects not only the

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environment, but local communities.

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And this episode really brings it home.

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We talked to Joseph Gordon from Ocean.

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We talked to Pete Stauffer from
the Surf Rider in the last two

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episodes, and now we're gonna be
talking about the Gulf States.

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In this episode, it's gonna be
a really important to listen.

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To how people have been treated
by the oil and gas industry.

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You'll hear the big talking
points about how it creates jobs

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and does it really create jobs.

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That's the big thing that we're gonna
be talking about today, as well as

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how it's treated people in the past
and how it's treated land in southern

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Louisiana in the past as well.

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We're gonna talk about that, all
that today on this interview.

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Enjoy the interview with Scott Eustis of
Healthy Golf, and I'll talk to you after.

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Oh, I just have one
question before we start.

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Yeah.

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How do you pronounce your last name?

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Is it Eustis?

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Eustis.

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Perfect.

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Beauty.

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Alright, here we go.

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Hey Scott.

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Welcome to the How to
Protect the Ocean Podcast.

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Are you ready to talk about the
Gulf of Mexico as well as this

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new offshore oil drilling plan?

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Yes, indeed.

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We're here in New Orleans
ready to protect the Gulf and

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ask your listeners to join us.

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And pursuing a better economy
for, uh, what's left of Louisiana.

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And, uh, even though we're always
gonna be in the water, so join us.

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Love it, and stop in this,
you could call it a plan.

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It ain't much of a plan because,
uh, the oil industry absolutely

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leaves a lot out when they plan.

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Uh, you know, so yeah, totally.

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We're gonna talk about it.

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It's gonna be fun to, to talk about
it, to get to, uh, to all the specifics

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of, of what's happening and what
people should think about when they

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think about the people that live
in and around the Gulf of Mexico.

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'cause I feel like sometimes
it's underrepresented and, and we

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just think of it's oil and gas.

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But that's not the case at all, and
we're gonna find out that out today.

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Um, but before we get into all of that
fun stuff, uh, Scott, why don't you just

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let us know who you are and what you do.

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Yeah, Scott used to see him.

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I'm the Community Science
Director at Healthy Golf.

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We're a 30-year-old plus organ
environmental organization, uh,

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dedicated to collaborating and serve.

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Those people that love the Gulf
of Mexico and want to see it

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restored to its natural splendor.

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The Gulf is an amazingly biodiverse Ocean.

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It's got a very gentle one Tie a day.

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You know, you don't have that in
Maine, Seattle, you know, we've, it

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is a very gentle Ocean, and especially
here in New Orleans, in Louisiana.

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But also in mobile.

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Uh uh, uh, also in Port Arthur, you
have these great freshwater rivers

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that enter this gentle Ocean and make
miles and miles of estuary that just.

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They do nothing but produce food Um, So
it's really hard to be a vegetarian in New

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Orleans because the Ocean is just bringing
the shrimp literally right to my doorstep.

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You know?

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Uh, the Ocean is just here, you know,
mother Nature is just providing,

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and we'd really like to return.

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Gulf and its economy back to that
maritime way that where it's oriented

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around hearth and home food and shelter.

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Uh, but we do have a long way to go.

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Uh, yeah,

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it seems like there's.

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It seems like there's a lot
of, uh, activity in and around

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the Gulf or planned activity.

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I mean, there's, we know that
there's a lot of, uh, oil and

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gas platforms already there.

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Yeah.

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Um, we know that the market for
oil and gas has been up and down.

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Especially since 2014 when,
when we had a big crash.

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Yeah.

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Uh, And so we're, we're gonna, we're
gonna get into to all that because I

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feel like it's really, uh, it goes to
show how, you know, the, the communities

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are treated in, in that, in that area.

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And, and, and I feel like, you
know, a lot of the times we just

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don't get to know the culture.

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Of the, the, the Gulf States.

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Right.

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Because there is, there is a,
a specific culture around that.

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And that's what I want to get into now.

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So Scott, you, uh, you know,
grew up in, in New Orleans,

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you grew up in, in Louisiana.

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You, your grandfather grew up in there.

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Can you tell us a little bit
about that family history and

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that connection to the Ocean?

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Um, no, just from the perspective
of, of your family and maybe even

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the community that you grew up in.

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Right.

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I mean, Louisiana, we have all types.

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I, I'm a little bit Cajun a little
bit coming from the East coast back in

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the day, generations and generations.

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But we all, uh, native folks were
drawn to the water again, because

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this is where a lot of the food was.

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Uh, African-American folks have
also contributed a rich culinary.

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If you come to New Orleans, you're
eating food out of the Gulf and this

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wonderfully productive ecosystem.

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Uh, my family were accountants,
engineers, and after World War ii, my

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granddad, uh, left forestry to drill.

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And of course he's drilling in Plaquemines
and Terrebonne, two parishes, like local

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counties, uh, on the water, on the Gulf.

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And, um.

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Made a living, uh, drilling for golf
oil company doesn't exist anymore.

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Uh, made good money.

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I, I think at that time, you know,
post World War ii, the Gulf provided

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energy and it's like thinking about
the way my granddad thought of oil.

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He thought of it as this gift
of energy from Mother Earth that

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could ease pain and provide.

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Opportunities for the economy.

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That never happened before.

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And so there, there was this promise at
some point of, of oil, um, to change,

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change the economy of Louisiana from
the plantation economy that we had.

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I'm sad to say, uh, 50 years
on that did not the promise.

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It was not fulfilled.

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And so today, um, especially after the
price crashes in 2014 And then in 2020,

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And then we're looking at very low oil
prices, uh, next year, you know, every

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time the value of oil dips companies
cut and run from their workers and

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from their environmental obligations.

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So for about the past
10 years, especially.

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Healthy golf has opposed new leasing, not
only for climate reasons and Hurricane

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Katrina taught us that we need to be
very wary of climate change in Louisiana.

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Mm-hmm.

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But just, you know, this
government is not gonna listen.

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Oh, we should still comment to this
government on climate change, but we

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really think that there should be no
new leasing until all those wells.

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That were drilled in my grandfather's day
get picked up because the oil, you know,

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you're commenting on a plan for leasing.

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But I gotta tell you, the oil companies
do not plan, like other industries

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plan where they, they're gonna put a
piece of infrastructure in the Ocean.

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But if you're a wind project off
Virginia or New York, you have

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what's called a decommissioning plan.

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Whatever we build in the
Ocean has a life cycle.

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And you know it, if you buy
a car, you know that car.

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It's not gonna last forever.

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You know, and you have a, we need a
plan in place from the day of sale.

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Um.

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If you're gonna put something in the
Ocean, you need a plan to take it out.

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And what we have seen, especially
since 2014, is that, uh, oil

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has been crashing and yeah, like
they say, oil is cyclical, right?

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Mm-hmm.

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And, or boom and bust.

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Mm-hmm.

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Well, for Louisiana it is just been bust.

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Bust and we're looking in, if
we're looking at $40 oil next

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year, it's gonna be a third bust.

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And what that means is companies like
Chevron and Shell, uh, even bp, uh, all

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of their legacy wells that maybe are 50,
maybe 80, a hundred years old sometimes,

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rather than hiring Louisiana oil workers.

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To fill those oil wells
with cement and mm-hmm.

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Cut the steel out of the Ocean
and recycle the steel on shore.

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Uh, rather than finishing the
job that was promised, the

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industry continues to cut and run.

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So we, we have this, it is
called decommissioning, right?

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You, yeah.

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You build the rig, you drill the
well, that's commissioning and

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decommissioning as you take it out.

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Well.

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This industry doesn't take
anything out of the Ocean.

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And as a result, we have
hundreds of oil spills sitting

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there in Plaquemines Parish.

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Uh uh, that should have been taken
out, 40 years, gone, but still

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sit there and they don't produce.

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Anything or they produce drops
of oil, but then leak gallons.

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Mm-hmm.

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And, and what's more We have
since 2014, we have seen nothing

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but layoffs, layoffs, layoffs.

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So since 2014 we've lost 20,000
jobs out of the oil field.

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Wow.

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Meanwhile, there's a
lot of work to be done.

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Mm-hmm.

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By oil workers to fill these
broken wells with cement.

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Take 'em outta the Ocean.

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'cause we got a lot of
other business to attend to.

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Um, we at healthy golf want offshore wind.

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Um mm-hmm.

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But even if you're not fully on board
with that, just the, the shrimping

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00:12:44,565 --> 00:12:50,415
fleet or a poey fleet, uh, we need
to remove these derelicts wells.

233
00:12:50,835 --> 00:12:54,405
So that a shrimp boat doesn't hit
one in the middle of the night and

234
00:12:54,405 --> 00:12:59,960
have a calamity, um, or even just a
shrimp boat drag in the wrong place.

235
00:13:00,734 --> 00:13:04,334
Um, shrimping is not as
lucrative as it once was.

236
00:13:04,334 --> 00:13:09,405
If you're a shrimper and your net
is fouled by an old pipeline, that's

237
00:13:09,405 --> 00:13:11,984
about 4,000 bucks just to start.

238
00:13:11,984 --> 00:13:16,814
And you may be, it might be a bad,
it's a bad month if not a bad season.

239
00:13:16,814 --> 00:13:16,875
Yeah.

240
00:13:17,114 --> 00:13:18,614
So, I mean, we need to Yeah.

241
00:13:19,035 --> 00:13:24,944
Make space for new economic
opportunities in the Gulf because what

242
00:13:24,944 --> 00:13:28,185
you have is this industry that, uh.

243
00:13:29,145 --> 00:13:35,265
They're just, uh, they're not hiring
engineers, they're just laying off

244
00:13:35,445 --> 00:13:40,965
workers And so we don't want any new
leasing, And so they fix all the broken

245
00:13:40,965 --> 00:13:43,215
stuff they've left from the old leases.

246
00:13:44,610 --> 00:13:45,810
I mean, that makes sense.

247
00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:48,330
You know, like, like you said,
that in every other industry they

248
00:13:48,330 --> 00:13:51,600
have to clean up their mess and,
and this is a, this is a mess.

249
00:13:51,900 --> 00:13:55,020
As you mentioned, there's, there's
oil wells that have not being

250
00:13:55,020 --> 00:13:58,155
used, not being used in production,
and they continue to leak.

251
00:13:58,680 --> 00:14:02,250
It continues to mess up fisheries,
it continues to mess up, uh,

252
00:14:02,250 --> 00:14:05,880
tourism because you're seeing all
this oil come in in certain spots.

253
00:14:05,880 --> 00:14:08,910
Plus the local community, of
course, is affected as well from

254
00:14:08,910 --> 00:14:12,870
a health perspective as well as
an environmental, uh, perspective.

255
00:14:13,260 --> 00:14:15,630
Now, one thing you mentioned
before we, uh, before we started

256
00:14:15,630 --> 00:14:19,439
recording, which I thought was
interesting, it was this lease plan.

257
00:14:20,025 --> 00:14:22,875
And, and where this lease plan is going.

258
00:14:22,875 --> 00:14:27,915
Like this is a plan to lease out
spots to eventually drill, right?

259
00:14:27,915 --> 00:14:31,215
But I think some people are like, oh,
well they're gonna, once they buy these

260
00:14:31,215 --> 00:14:34,215
leases or once they buy up these leases,
they're gonna start drilling right away.

261
00:14:34,215 --> 00:14:35,385
That's not how it works.

262
00:14:35,565 --> 00:14:40,755
Scott, can you explain how that works
and when are we looking at when these

263
00:14:40,755 --> 00:14:42,795
leases would actually be drilled?

264
00:14:42,855 --> 00:14:44,505
If they're drilled?

265
00:14:44,865 --> 00:14:45,045
Yeah.

266
00:14:45,045 --> 00:14:48,915
We need people to comment
to the government about.

267
00:14:49,920 --> 00:14:54,570
This, this lease plan, 'cause a,
a lease today is almost a plan to

268
00:14:54,570 --> 00:14:58,170
drill 10, even 20 years from now.

269
00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:00,450
They can, they sit on that lease first.

270
00:15:00,450 --> 00:15:02,220
There's a lot of, it's the Ocean.

271
00:15:02,220 --> 00:15:03,750
It's not easy to get there.

272
00:15:04,620 --> 00:15:09,540
So, uh, sometimes they lease it out
before they have the capital in the, you

273
00:15:09,540 --> 00:15:12,030
know, get a loan to do the survey work.

274
00:15:12,150 --> 00:15:12,240
Right.

275
00:15:12,750 --> 00:15:14,280
They might drill a survey.

276
00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:17,130
Well, 'cause these oil deposits.

277
00:15:17,505 --> 00:15:21,074
Are two, three miles underneath the mud.

278
00:15:21,435 --> 00:15:22,095
And that's all.

279
00:15:22,245 --> 00:15:22,305
Yeah.

280
00:15:22,605 --> 00:15:26,025
If you're drilling through a
mile of Ocean on top of that.

281
00:15:26,025 --> 00:15:34,275
So these are incredibly complex,
um, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, operations.

282
00:15:34,365 --> 00:15:36,704
They're incredibly expensive.

283
00:15:37,095 --> 00:15:37,740
Um, and.

284
00:15:38,415 --> 00:15:44,655
Since 2014 and fracking, it's just been
so much easier for the oil companies

285
00:15:44,715 --> 00:15:47,175
to hire trucks rather than boats.

286
00:15:47,175 --> 00:15:47,535
Right?

287
00:15:47,540 --> 00:15:47,820
Right.

288
00:15:47,865 --> 00:15:53,325
So it's still, uh, to this day, it's
much a bigger return on investment

289
00:15:53,325 --> 00:15:59,115
for them to hire trucks and frack
in West Texas or North Dakota than

290
00:15:59,115 --> 00:16:05,475
it is to make a long-term plan to
drill for oil deposits in the Ocean.

291
00:16:05,475 --> 00:16:06,735
So what that means is.

292
00:16:07,440 --> 00:16:11,970
A lot of your smaller operators,
uh, won't even be bidding.

293
00:16:12,210 --> 00:16:12,300
Mm-hmm.

294
00:16:12,630 --> 00:16:14,435
It means is, um.

295
00:16:15,270 --> 00:16:16,350
You see the lease sail.

296
00:16:16,350 --> 00:16:19,650
The lease sail is every
speck of Ocean we got.

297
00:16:19,650 --> 00:16:21,449
And that's, yeah.

298
00:16:21,449 --> 00:16:27,000
Kind of offensive 'cause it's, you know,
we have great coral reefs in places.

299
00:16:27,005 --> 00:16:27,084
Mm-hmm.

300
00:16:27,170 --> 00:16:28,319
In some places of the gulf.

301
00:16:28,439 --> 00:16:31,439
In other places we have sand resources.

302
00:16:31,469 --> 00:16:31,560
Mm-hmm.

303
00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:35,969
That we would like to utilize for
coastal and ecosystem restoration.

304
00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:40,230
We have fairways, we have places
that will be good for wind power.

305
00:16:40,739 --> 00:16:46,140
So when you see these plans drop and they
considered no one and nobody, and they

306
00:16:46,140 --> 00:16:51,810
just let oil industry take whatever they
want, that I would, that's not a plan.

307
00:16:52,619 --> 00:16:54,089
So, uh, Yeah.

308
00:16:54,089 --> 00:16:54,099
Yeah.

309
00:16:54,125 --> 00:16:54,665
Uh, wait.

310
00:16:54,744 --> 00:16:55,625
I, and I think, uh.

311
00:16:56,910 --> 00:17:01,470
When, for example, when the wind
power leasing happened in the Gulf

312
00:17:01,470 --> 00:17:06,210
during the last administration,
they purposely excluded about 14

313
00:17:06,210 --> 00:17:08,280
categories of other activities.

314
00:17:08,670 --> 00:17:11,609
For one, they didn't lease wind
power close to shore, let's just

315
00:17:11,609 --> 00:17:14,849
say, well, let's just move it
away from people in general.

316
00:17:14,849 --> 00:17:14,940
Mm-hmm.

317
00:17:16,755 --> 00:17:16,974
Two.

318
00:17:17,194 --> 00:17:19,020
Uh, they excluded.

319
00:17:19,395 --> 00:17:20,625
Shrimping areas.

320
00:17:20,745 --> 00:17:26,235
They looked at something called AIS, which
tracks the larger fishing vessels, and

321
00:17:26,235 --> 00:17:28,515
they say, oh, where are people shrimping?

322
00:17:28,815 --> 00:17:32,535
Let's not even consider
leasing those areas for wind.

323
00:17:32,710 --> 00:17:33,130
Mm-hmm.

324
00:17:33,215 --> 00:17:36,165
They did other things like
we have an endangered whale.

325
00:17:36,435 --> 00:17:42,075
There may only be 30 to 40
uh, rices whales in the Gulf.

326
00:17:42,075 --> 00:17:42,165
Mm-hmm.

327
00:17:42,405 --> 00:17:43,035
It's a whale.

328
00:17:43,035 --> 00:17:45,585
It's like a half size blue whale.

329
00:17:45,705 --> 00:17:46,545
A rl.

330
00:17:46,725 --> 00:17:46,845
Right.

331
00:17:47,085 --> 00:17:48,135
A filter feeder.

332
00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:56,910
An amazing animal that we want to thrive
and Prosple and we know we need to exclude

333
00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:04,620
a certain areas of bottom upwelling
where that the Ri Rices whale feeds from.

334
00:18:04,980 --> 00:18:08,040
We need to exclude those
areas from oil activity.

335
00:18:08,745 --> 00:18:11,504
If we want that species to not go extinct.

336
00:18:11,774 --> 00:18:13,575
And the wind Yeah, the wind power.

337
00:18:13,575 --> 00:18:16,274
People are like, yeah, we don't,
we don't need to go there.

338
00:18:16,695 --> 00:18:23,355
Um, and, but when they lease for
oil, they just lease everything.

339
00:18:23,385 --> 00:18:28,845
I, I think what you see since 2014
too, these are almost all single

340
00:18:28,845 --> 00:18:32,115
bid leases almost exclusively.

341
00:18:33,105 --> 00:18:37,335
And you know, so you know that
these leases are contracts.

342
00:18:37,935 --> 00:18:40,485
Between the United States
and the oil companies.

343
00:18:41,805 --> 00:18:43,935
We're just selling the farm for pennies.

344
00:18:43,995 --> 00:18:47,715
You know, we want the United States
to get the most value out of it.

345
00:18:47,715 --> 00:18:51,015
If they're gonna make so much
money, what do we see from it?

346
00:18:51,015 --> 00:18:51,375
You know?

347
00:18:51,375 --> 00:18:52,095
And we're really, yeah.

348
00:18:52,275 --> 00:18:58,575
When we, when we lease single bid, uh, we
are getting the bottom, uh, of the barrel.

349
00:18:58,575 --> 00:19:00,795
We're not getting a good deal.

350
00:19:00,945 --> 00:19:02,000
Uh, the other thing mm-hmm.

351
00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:02,360
Is that.

352
00:19:04,980 --> 00:19:07,860
Oil is, you may have
heard it in seventh grade.

353
00:19:08,010 --> 00:19:10,350
It's a non-renewable resource.

354
00:19:10,830 --> 00:19:12,330
So what really?

355
00:19:12,390 --> 00:19:15,720
Another dynamic that's
gone on really since 2008.

356
00:19:16,320 --> 00:19:16,890
Uh, wait.

357
00:19:17,415 --> 00:19:18,425
It's run out y'all.

358
00:19:19,710 --> 00:19:25,560
We've been drilling in the Gulf for a
hundred years, and especially these wells.

359
00:19:25,740 --> 00:19:28,740
Some of these wells were old when
my grandfather was working on 'em.

360
00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:32,100
Uh, so it really, you
know, in the industry.

361
00:19:32,100 --> 00:19:33,930
So, oh, we'll have new technology.

362
00:19:33,930 --> 00:19:34,770
We'll do this.

363
00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:36,629
We'll pump CO2 down.

364
00:19:37,220 --> 00:19:39,620
No you won't because Yeah.

365
00:19:39,635 --> 00:19:39,875
Yeah.

366
00:19:40,130 --> 00:19:46,040
Uh, it, it's, it's, it's, again, it's
just if as long as we're fracking

367
00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:50,270
in North Dakota, as long as we're
fracking in West Texas, the value

368
00:19:50,270 --> 00:19:57,555
proposition of hiring this giant boat
crew, hiring geologists and divers and,

369
00:19:57,655 --> 00:20:01,955
and environmental scientists to live
on boats for months at a time mm-hmm.

370
00:20:02,135 --> 00:20:02,995
To do this like.

371
00:20:04,140 --> 00:20:07,140
These almost like space
missions to find the oil.

372
00:20:07,140 --> 00:20:07,230
Mm-hmm.

373
00:20:08,100 --> 00:20:13,320
Uh, the economics only play out
if you're an Exxon or Chevron,

374
00:20:13,380 --> 00:20:21,330
and they only play out if you
find super large deposits of oil.

375
00:20:21,510 --> 00:20:29,250
And, and what that means is they need to
go super deep, which is super dangerous.

376
00:20:29,250 --> 00:20:29,310
Yeah.

377
00:20:29,315 --> 00:20:29,515
Yeah.

378
00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:30,600
And they need to drill.

379
00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:30,660
Yeah.

380
00:20:31,470 --> 00:20:34,920
Super deep under the
earth and it's mm-hmm.

381
00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:38,130
Literally hot as hell
down there And so, mm-hmm.

382
00:20:39,360 --> 00:20:45,330
Right now in the Gulf there haven't been
many new jobs in drilling, but there has

383
00:20:45,330 --> 00:20:53,910
been what they call 20 K plays way, way
far out off of Green Canyon and beyond.

384
00:20:53,910 --> 00:20:58,530
This is, these are 250 miles
from the Louisiana border.

385
00:20:59,445 --> 00:21:06,165
Very, very far, um, to go very,
very deep, uh, to find what you call

386
00:21:06,165 --> 00:21:08,445
20 K. And what is, what is 20 K?

387
00:21:09,045 --> 00:21:11,745
Uh, I believe that's 20
K pounds of pressure.

388
00:21:12,255 --> 00:21:13,935
These are areas that were leased.

389
00:21:13,965 --> 00:21:16,455
They were leased in 2006.

390
00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:17,180
Mm-hmm.

391
00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:22,275
But when, uh, and they found, they
surveyed it, they found oil in these super

392
00:21:22,275 --> 00:21:25,695
deep plays that had a lot of big play.

393
00:21:26,895 --> 00:21:32,715
In 2006, the oil industry did not have
the technology to drill it because if

394
00:21:32,715 --> 00:21:37,725
they had drilled these plays in 2006,
the pressures would've been so high.

395
00:21:38,055 --> 00:21:44,595
No human technology would've been able
to contain the geyser of pollution

396
00:21:44,715 --> 00:21:46,875
coming out from Mother Earth.

397
00:21:46,935 --> 00:21:51,225
So what we see now, Chevron has
said, oh, we finally hacked it.

398
00:21:52,095 --> 00:21:53,895
We're gonna go super deep.

399
00:21:54,554 --> 00:21:59,415
Super hot, super high pressure,
but I think we should be, you

400
00:21:59,415 --> 00:22:03,524
should be very concerned if
you're off Florida or Alabama.

401
00:22:03,585 --> 00:22:10,274
'cause it just means that it's, we're
we're getting riskier and riskier.

402
00:22:10,274 --> 00:22:10,284
Mm-hmm.

403
00:22:10,455 --> 00:22:18,705
And riskier after we, we've already had
the disaster of 2010 to tell us if any.

404
00:22:20,355 --> 00:22:22,215
They'll say, oh, it'll never happen.

405
00:22:22,455 --> 00:22:24,615
It's a low probability event.

406
00:22:24,615 --> 00:22:24,675
Yeah.

407
00:22:24,705 --> 00:22:27,075
But we've seen, we've already
been through it and our

408
00:22:27,075 --> 00:22:29,295
ecosystem still hasn't recovered.

409
00:22:29,295 --> 00:22:29,385
Mm-hmm.

410
00:22:29,625 --> 00:22:30,375
From 2010.

411
00:22:30,379 --> 00:22:35,775
No, our, we've got 26 species
of cean in the Gulf and the

412
00:22:35,775 --> 00:22:37,935
rice is whale hasn't recovered.

413
00:22:37,935 --> 00:22:41,625
Our bottle nose, dolphin
population is not recovered.

414
00:22:41,835 --> 00:22:42,254
The beaks.

415
00:22:42,285 --> 00:22:46,605
D whale, none of our well
species have recovered from.

416
00:22:47,370 --> 00:22:50,370
The last deep water
drilling disaster in 2010.

417
00:22:50,699 --> 00:22:57,959
And what this lease sale proposes, um,
is to go deeper and hotter into hell.

418
00:22:58,409 --> 00:23:03,300
And, uh, and the other, and that's
the reason why what's new about this

419
00:23:03,300 --> 00:23:07,649
sale is for the first time they're
gonna drill off the coast of Florida.

420
00:23:07,649 --> 00:23:12,419
It's driven by these deeper
plays that they could find.

421
00:23:13,830 --> 00:23:15,360
But we know, uh.

422
00:23:17,100 --> 00:23:22,110
We know that that's, that would be an
even worse economic disaster because,

423
00:23:22,110 --> 00:23:28,560
uh, healthy Gulf, we, we, we look at
the economics when we comment on these

424
00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:33,690
things, we look at the jobs and we
have gotten the state of Mississippi

425
00:23:34,050 --> 00:23:42,180
to ban drilling, uh, on its coast
because the, the consequences to tourism

426
00:23:42,180 --> 00:23:44,430
and to the coastal economy fishing.

427
00:23:44,850 --> 00:23:46,320
Everything on the beach.

428
00:23:47,565 --> 00:23:53,175
The cost of a drilling disaster off of
Mississippi is not worth the benefits of

429
00:23:53,175 --> 00:23:57,405
the oil, and that's to the Mississippi
tourism economy, which, I mean, I love

430
00:23:57,735 --> 00:24:03,465
vacationing on the coast of Mississippi,
but it's not the national draw that,

431
00:24:03,585 --> 00:24:05,715
uh, everyone knows it's Florida to be.

432
00:24:05,805 --> 00:24:07,065
It's underrepresented.

433
00:24:07,065 --> 00:24:07,845
Let's be honest.

434
00:24:07,845 --> 00:24:09,855
We've been, I've been on
the coast of Mississippi.

435
00:24:09,855 --> 00:24:13,125
Those beaches are beautiful
and people don't realize it.

436
00:24:13,275 --> 00:24:14,950
It's like a hidden gem of the south.

437
00:24:15,290 --> 00:24:18,560
You know, I don't think people realize
how nice those beaches actually

438
00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:20,330
are and it's good for the state.

439
00:24:20,330 --> 00:24:21,470
It's a great place.

440
00:24:21,530 --> 00:24:21,980
Yeah.

441
00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:23,690
It's our little paradise.

442
00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:27,560
But you know, it's not the
big dollar that Florida is.

443
00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:27,680
Right.

444
00:24:28,250 --> 00:24:29,149
But still, right.

445
00:24:29,149 --> 00:24:33,590
That humble dollar in Mississippi
is enough for Mississippi.

446
00:24:33,620 --> 00:24:33,710
Mm-hmm.

447
00:24:33,950 --> 00:24:35,570
To say, no, we don't want the oil here.

448
00:24:36,105 --> 00:24:37,035
Uh, yeah.

449
00:24:37,185 --> 00:24:39,435
The, the benefit, so is
that, is that regulation?

450
00:24:39,615 --> 00:24:39,915
Yeah.

451
00:24:40,065 --> 00:24:42,315
Is that regulation, uh, for Mississippi?

452
00:24:42,345 --> 00:24:43,215
'cause it's a state.

453
00:24:43,515 --> 00:24:43,635
Yeah.

454
00:24:43,635 --> 00:24:44,865
Within the nine, it's in their water.

455
00:24:45,105 --> 00:24:46,005
Nautical mile.

456
00:24:46,010 --> 00:24:46,110
Yeah.

457
00:24:46,115 --> 00:24:46,335
Yeah.

458
00:24:46,335 --> 00:24:47,445
It's in their state water.

459
00:24:47,445 --> 00:24:49,125
So, so they ran beyond that.

460
00:24:49,335 --> 00:24:50,235
They can't, yeah.

461
00:24:50,235 --> 00:24:50,625
Okay.

462
00:24:50,805 --> 00:24:51,075
Okay.

463
00:24:51,075 --> 00:24:56,295
So Mississippi running the numbers
came up with, you know, the cost

464
00:24:56,655 --> 00:25:01,185
of destroying the water, destroying
the animals, and our food.

465
00:25:02,085 --> 00:25:04,755
You know, a lot of oysters, a lot
of shrimp O off from the city too.

466
00:25:05,265 --> 00:25:05,475
Mm-hmm.

467
00:25:05,481 --> 00:25:05,500
Mm-hmm.

468
00:25:05,685 --> 00:25:06,075
Yeah.

469
00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:10,785
It, it just doesn't, it's not
worth the revenue from oil.

470
00:25:11,565 --> 00:25:17,835
Uh, and, And so for, for us, for
the first, this president banned

471
00:25:18,615 --> 00:25:22,335
drilling off of Florida for
that reason, first time death.

472
00:25:22,575 --> 00:25:22,815
Yeah.

473
00:25:22,815 --> 00:25:26,895
And Mr. Rubio, uh, you know,
when he was senator, uh.

474
00:25:28,439 --> 00:25:32,790
He also was part of a congressional ban of
drilling off of Florida for that reason.

475
00:25:33,209 --> 00:25:33,659
So now mm-hmm.

476
00:25:33,899 --> 00:25:38,790
But these, it's only worth it to
drill in the Gulf for these super

477
00:25:38,790 --> 00:25:41,310
deep, super hot, super far places.

478
00:25:41,340 --> 00:25:47,189
And that's why for the first time they're
contemplating going, uh, off of Florida.

479
00:25:47,490 --> 00:25:49,770
But we've learned nothing.

480
00:25:49,830 --> 00:25:51,485
You know, I, it's, Yeah, it's true.

481
00:25:51,485 --> 00:25:56,129
It's a very arbitrary
decision by this government.

482
00:25:56,670 --> 00:26:00,420
To decide to forget everything mm-hmm.

483
00:26:00,690 --> 00:26:07,410
That we've learned since 2010 and to
totally forget about what the industry

484
00:26:07,410 --> 00:26:10,410
has done to Louisiana for generations.

485
00:26:10,770 --> 00:26:17,250
And it's only if the government remains
totally ignorant to the economics

486
00:26:17,580 --> 00:26:20,460
that, that they could possibly
get away with leasing this stuff.

487
00:26:20,460 --> 00:26:23,310
So that's why we need
people to comment on.

488
00:26:23,550 --> 00:26:23,610
Yeah.

489
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:25,500
All of the costs.

490
00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:31,950
The industry brings to the golf when it
drills Well, and let's be honest too, like

491
00:26:31,950 --> 00:26:37,409
you've mentioned it a, a couple of times
where this high pressure, deep, deep,

492
00:26:37,590 --> 00:26:40,740
uh, sort of, it's an experiment really.

493
00:26:40,740 --> 00:26:43,590
They say they can do it, but
they've never done it before.

494
00:26:43,590 --> 00:26:45,750
So it's really the first time.

495
00:26:45,750 --> 00:26:48,450
And I remember when the
BP oil spill happened.

496
00:26:49,350 --> 00:26:50,790
The deep water horizon happened.

497
00:26:50,790 --> 00:26:54,295
They said, oh yeah, well, you know, we're
not used to deep going that deep, right?

498
00:26:54,389 --> 00:26:58,350
And so we had trouble capping it because
it was so deep, and now they want to go

499
00:26:58,350 --> 00:27:03,600
deeper where there's more pressure, where
it's gonna be hotter water coming out.

500
00:27:04,199 --> 00:27:05,699
It makes no sense.

501
00:27:05,699 --> 00:27:09,120
Like you said, it's like they're
ignoring the pass and a recent pass.

502
00:27:09,120 --> 00:27:11,189
It's not as if it's like
50 years ago, right?

503
00:27:11,189 --> 00:27:13,020
This was only 15 years ago.

504
00:27:13,350 --> 00:27:15,959
And so the fact that they want
to go deeper and it's really

505
00:27:15,959 --> 00:27:17,310
the first time they're doing it.

506
00:27:17,310 --> 00:27:18,120
No, no, we got it.

507
00:27:18,120 --> 00:27:19,889
We've ha we've hacked the way of doing it.

508
00:27:19,895 --> 00:27:21,360
It doesn't mean they've got it.

509
00:27:22,290 --> 00:27:22,389
You know what I mean?

510
00:27:22,439 --> 00:27:23,639
It doesn't mean they've got it.

511
00:27:23,909 --> 00:27:27,959
And in the middle of this, BP is
laying off engineers in Houston.

512
00:27:28,230 --> 00:27:33,060
So it's one thing if you say, Hey, you
know what, we're gonna try something new.

513
00:27:33,540 --> 00:27:34,139
You know what?

514
00:27:34,139 --> 00:27:38,790
We're gonna hire up and we've
got 20 new smart guys to help us

515
00:27:39,060 --> 00:27:41,760
figure it out if something goes
wrong, we are doing the opposite.

516
00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:45,389
BP is laying off thousands
of workers outta Houston.

517
00:27:45,449 --> 00:27:48,870
We are, they're outsourcing engineering.

518
00:27:49,860 --> 00:27:54,570
A lot of things can be done remotely
or they can argue that they can,

519
00:27:54,570 --> 00:27:57,929
I don't, I have my doubts right,
but we're seeing of course, so

520
00:27:57,929 --> 00:27:59,879
we don't wanna increase the risk.

521
00:28:01,185 --> 00:28:05,865
While we're getting rid of the human
element that could fix problems, it's a

522
00:28:05,865 --> 00:28:09,015
total recipe for a disaster for the Gulf.

523
00:28:09,015 --> 00:28:09,525
Mm-hmm.

524
00:28:09,670 --> 00:28:17,145
Um, and really, uh, the argument they'll
make in court is that this is jobs

525
00:28:17,235 --> 00:28:19,875
and it's so thin gruel at this point.

526
00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:24,705
Uh, they'll announce, uh, we're
laying off 5,000 people from the

527
00:28:24,705 --> 00:28:28,455
Gulf, And then next month it's like,
well, we gotta have this lease sale.

528
00:28:28,784 --> 00:28:29,685
For jobs.

529
00:28:29,774 --> 00:28:31,185
It's like, yeah, what?

530
00:28:31,185 --> 00:28:32,294
Or they'll blame me.

531
00:28:32,294 --> 00:28:35,415
Like, so I've been blamed
personally as an environmentalist.

532
00:28:35,415 --> 00:28:39,705
Like, Scott, you're, you're stopping
jobs from coming to the Gulf.

533
00:28:39,705 --> 00:28:41,594
It's like, what are you talking about?

534
00:28:41,594 --> 00:28:45,975
You know, Chevron and PP
control who is employed and

535
00:28:45,975 --> 00:28:48,165
they have done a terrible thing.

536
00:28:48,165 --> 00:28:53,235
So this lease sale is almost like
our one point of leverage to say

537
00:28:53,294 --> 00:28:55,229
you don't get to start new business.

538
00:28:55,665 --> 00:28:59,865
Yeah, until you handle all your old
business, you know, so we say no way.

539
00:29:01,380 --> 00:29:02,010
Absolutely.

540
00:29:02,010 --> 00:29:06,240
I completely agree with that, and I think
that's a big myth within the oil and gas

541
00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:08,760
industry is that it provides local jobs.

542
00:29:08,970 --> 00:29:13,650
At one point it did provide local jobs,
but the way they treat it, and especially

543
00:29:13,650 --> 00:29:20,160
with the way oil in the last 15 years
has gone down, up and down, up and down

544
00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:23,460
so quickly and companies are ready to.

545
00:29:23,750 --> 00:29:27,140
Just, you know, cut their ties
and leave, as you mentioned.

546
00:29:27,350 --> 00:29:27,440
Right.

547
00:29:27,500 --> 00:29:30,410
And just lay off more and more people.

548
00:29:30,650 --> 00:29:36,080
A lot, you know, leaving, you know, oil
wells open and not, not fixing them up.

549
00:29:36,470 --> 00:29:40,430
It can be, it, it just, it kind of
just destroys that community and

550
00:29:40,430 --> 00:29:44,210
takes them away from what they used
to be doing, which was fishing.

551
00:29:44,450 --> 00:29:44,600
Yeah.

552
00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:48,110
And tourism and all these other, and
just living off the land and enjoying

553
00:29:48,110 --> 00:29:49,910
the land and enjoying what they were.

554
00:29:50,130 --> 00:29:53,220
One thing, Scott, I, I wanted to let you
know, I, I didn't tell you this before.

555
00:29:53,220 --> 00:29:57,570
I did tell you I worked for lumcon, uh,
about 20 years ago, 25 years ago now.

556
00:29:57,570 --> 00:29:57,810
Wow.

557
00:29:57,810 --> 00:29:59,820
I'm old, uh, 25 years ago.

558
00:30:00,210 --> 00:30:07,380
Um, but then I went back in 2018, uh,
I was invited back as part of a group

559
00:30:07,380 --> 00:30:11,370
of, of science communicators that
went back to lumcon, the executive

560
00:30:11,370 --> 00:30:15,270
director at the time, Craig McLean,
wanted to put on what he called,

561
00:30:15,300 --> 00:30:17,370
uh, what did he call it, oceans.

562
00:30:19,125 --> 00:30:20,264
Well, maybe it was 22 Ocean.

563
00:30:20,264 --> 00:30:21,585
2020. No, it was 2018.

564
00:30:21,825 --> 00:30:23,985
It was Ocean's, ocean's 2018.

565
00:30:24,435 --> 00:30:25,845
And it was, it was like this.

566
00:30:26,595 --> 00:30:30,044
He, he didn't tell us what we were going
down there for, but he did tell us that

567
00:30:30,195 --> 00:30:34,665
we're gonna have a topic and we're going
to explain and just kind of take over

568
00:30:34,665 --> 00:30:37,304
the narrative of that particular topic.

569
00:30:37,304 --> 00:30:38,504
And so it was a big reveal.

570
00:30:38,504 --> 00:30:39,465
When we got down there.

571
00:30:39,465 --> 00:30:42,105
There was probably about 30 or 40 of us.

572
00:30:42,105 --> 00:30:42,495
Right?

573
00:30:42,615 --> 00:30:42,885
Yeah.

574
00:30:42,915 --> 00:30:44,115
And the topic was.

575
00:30:44,445 --> 00:30:46,659
Southern Louisiana Yeah.

576
00:30:46,665 --> 00:30:46,695
Yeah.

577
00:30:46,905 --> 00:30:49,815
And what has happened to
southern Louisiana over the

578
00:30:49,815 --> 00:30:52,845
past like 30 to 60 years?

579
00:30:52,845 --> 00:30:52,905
Yeah.

580
00:30:52,905 --> 00:30:57,705
And one of the things that I
learned that I did not know was the

581
00:30:57,705 --> 00:30:59,895
land there in southern Louisiana.

582
00:31:00,725 --> 00:31:05,675
Whether it was, uh, owned by, you
know, occasions or it was owned by

583
00:31:05,735 --> 00:31:11,284
Louisianians and, and, but also, you know,
indigenous or native peoples and things.

584
00:31:11,465 --> 00:31:13,625
We spoke to some indigenous people there.

585
00:31:14,225 --> 00:31:14,314
Yeah.

586
00:31:14,314 --> 00:31:18,845
And they were saying that the land has
been cut through so many times by boats

587
00:31:18,845 --> 00:31:24,605
and by oil companies who just cut through
that land that like, it got to a point

588
00:31:24,605 --> 00:31:29,600
where like the grave sites, like their
cultural grave sites would like come up.

589
00:31:30,540 --> 00:31:35,070
Like, you know, graves would be up
and I like just cut through and,

590
00:31:35,070 --> 00:31:36,900
and they lost land because of it.

591
00:31:36,900 --> 00:31:39,870
And a lot of people were losing
land because that land kept getting

592
00:31:39,870 --> 00:31:42,090
destroyed through those cut throughs.

593
00:31:42,990 --> 00:31:43,200
Yes.

594
00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:47,910
It seems as the, the, the oil and
gas industry has just continually

595
00:31:47,910 --> 00:31:53,250
taken and taken and taken from people
in southern Louisiana as well as

596
00:31:53,310 --> 00:31:57,660
the Gulf States in, in other cases
and just hasn't really given back.

597
00:31:58,064 --> 00:32:01,185
What they, what they have taken in no
way, way, and the amounts they've taken.

598
00:32:01,185 --> 00:32:02,534
And that's why, in no way.

599
00:32:02,925 --> 00:32:09,764
So, uh, that is why, uh, Plaquemines
Parish, one of the coastal local

600
00:32:09,764 --> 00:32:16,155
governments, a county in the Gulf south
of New Orleans, uh, as well as many other

601
00:32:16,215 --> 00:32:24,074
coastal parishes, uh, sued Chevron, bp,
shell, all of them, they sued the company.

602
00:32:24,074 --> 00:32:26,205
My, uh, my grandfather worked for.

603
00:32:26,385 --> 00:32:32,385
But I, and to put the land back,
I was raised, Yeah, I, when I was

604
00:32:32,385 --> 00:32:38,450
raised, um, And then in the nineties
to date myself, you know my, mm-hmm.

605
00:32:38,530 --> 00:32:44,115
My grandfather was excited 'cause when he
drilled in the seventies, in the eighties,

606
00:32:44,115 --> 00:32:46,245
he watched those cut throughs happen.

607
00:32:46,245 --> 00:32:50,175
He watched the land disintegrate,
start to disintegrate, and

608
00:32:50,175 --> 00:32:52,725
we're very disintegrated now.

609
00:32:53,685 --> 00:32:58,635
He knew it was wrong, even though,
hey, I wouldn't have this grandkid

610
00:32:59,355 --> 00:33:03,345
without that salary, but also for
sure what's gonna be left for him.

611
00:33:03,555 --> 00:33:08,295
He was excited that I had an
environmental mind and he, those,

612
00:33:08,295 --> 00:33:12,465
these new laws were being passed in
the nineties in the state of Louisiana

613
00:33:12,465 --> 00:33:14,625
to force oil companies to restore it.

614
00:33:14,955 --> 00:33:18,015
So he is like, Scott, my boy,
go to school for ecology.

615
00:33:18,825 --> 00:33:23,085
Come back and I know exactly
what needs to res be restored.

616
00:33:23,265 --> 00:33:23,415
Love it.

617
00:33:23,955 --> 00:33:25,425
Because I was out there doing it.

618
00:33:25,430 --> 00:33:25,690
I love it.

619
00:33:25,815 --> 00:33:30,465
So I think, you know, there's a lot of
people who worked in the oil industry

620
00:33:30,465 --> 00:33:35,085
that have watched the industry fall
short on its promises, and that's

621
00:33:35,085 --> 00:33:42,645
why in 2018, Plaquemines Parish
engaged in 21 lawsuits against these

622
00:33:42,645 --> 00:33:44,445
same oil companies that are leasing.

623
00:33:45,074 --> 00:33:49,635
And recently they secured for
one oil field, one oil field.

624
00:33:49,635 --> 00:33:55,544
Black Women's Parish secured
a $750 million settlement, um,

625
00:33:55,784 --> 00:33:58,034
from Chevron and other companies.

626
00:33:59,324 --> 00:34:04,514
This is a state law and it's
only the damages after 1980.

627
00:34:05,504 --> 00:34:10,335
Uh, however, Chevron is appealing to the
United States Supreme Court right now.

628
00:34:11,205 --> 00:34:13,424
Because that was one oil field.

629
00:34:13,455 --> 00:34:16,844
Blackman's had 20 other lawsuits like it.

630
00:34:17,384 --> 00:34:23,264
And really the damage to our coast is
in the tens of billions of dollars.

631
00:34:24,014 --> 00:34:28,065
Um, which should tell you the
value of restoring it is in the

632
00:34:28,065 --> 00:34:30,435
a hundred billion dollars range.

633
00:34:30,495 --> 00:34:36,225
I, I think we have a very successful
coastal restoration program in Louisiana.

634
00:34:37,185 --> 00:34:42,165
After bp, it got, you know, it's
a horrible ecological crisis.

635
00:34:42,524 --> 00:34:45,824
But Louisiana for what we are,
we don't have the greatest

636
00:34:46,065 --> 00:34:48,464
reputation on handling our money.

637
00:34:48,495 --> 00:34:53,295
But I think the cultural program
has been a beacon of transparency

638
00:34:53,295 --> 00:34:59,415
and accountability and has really,
uh, built back barrier islands, um,

639
00:34:59,475 --> 00:35:03,105
with that BP money and I can't tell.

640
00:35:03,105 --> 00:35:05,024
It's amazing to see.

641
00:35:06,225 --> 00:35:10,545
Tens of thousands of migrating
birds using those islands now.

642
00:35:10,545 --> 00:35:10,575
Oh.

643
00:35:10,965 --> 00:35:14,385
That if we had not had that,
that lawsuit, settlement money.

644
00:35:14,535 --> 00:35:14,595
Yeah.

645
00:35:14,775 --> 00:35:16,335
You know, we wouldn't have the animals.

646
00:35:16,335 --> 00:35:20,925
So I, Louisiana is a dramatic
place with a lot of loss.

647
00:35:21,255 --> 00:35:26,205
And I've also seen since 2010,
the eco, it's not the, the

648
00:35:26,205 --> 00:35:28,125
estuary is not the rainforest.

649
00:35:28,185 --> 00:35:30,525
You know, it, it is an ecosystem that.

650
00:35:31,695 --> 00:35:36,585
We, we can, uh, put it back to function.

651
00:35:36,675 --> 00:35:44,535
Uh, not completely, not perfect, but
we, it's amazing to see, um, what

652
00:35:44,535 --> 00:35:47,535
the restoration program has done.

653
00:35:47,535 --> 00:35:53,420
And it's amazing also to see a place like
Plaquemines Parish, very pro oil and gas.

654
00:35:55,095 --> 00:35:56,145
But you know what?

655
00:35:56,145 --> 00:36:02,475
No one knows how dumb this
industry is, like the workers do.

656
00:36:03,495 --> 00:36:11,595
So you really think about that lawsuit
as the oil workers suing to pry the

657
00:36:11,595 --> 00:36:15,225
money out of the big bosses and Um, So.

658
00:36:16,515 --> 00:36:19,275
That's on the state government side.

659
00:36:19,275 --> 00:36:22,755
The Native Americans, of course,
we have climate change and that's

660
00:36:22,755 --> 00:36:24,975
a, another, a harder road to hoe.

661
00:36:25,395 --> 00:36:30,165
But the Native American environmental
movement in Louisiana has, they've

662
00:36:30,165 --> 00:36:35,445
petitioned the UN that this negligence
of these cut throughs, negligence

663
00:36:35,445 --> 00:36:39,495
of these oil canals, negligence,
and the canals are still there.

664
00:36:39,495 --> 00:36:42,195
'cause these wells are
still there from 1930.

665
00:36:42,195 --> 00:36:42,255
Yeah.

666
00:36:43,395 --> 00:36:44,230
Uh, so, you know.

667
00:36:45,150 --> 00:36:48,060
It's, it's, it's a dereliction of duty.

668
00:36:48,570 --> 00:36:53,940
Uh, and you know who can fix it
to begin with is oil workers.

669
00:36:53,940 --> 00:36:59,220
We need the companies part of these
settlements, that seven $50 million

670
00:36:59,220 --> 00:37:06,750
that's gonna go toward hiring oil workers
to take care of those wells from 1940.

671
00:37:07,110 --> 00:37:11,430
Fill them with cement, cut
the steel below the mud line.

672
00:37:12,315 --> 00:37:17,475
Restore the vegetation at the surface
so we can have our golden meadow

673
00:37:17,895 --> 00:37:22,905
once again, we can have our solar
powered fish farm to where it was.

674
00:37:23,325 --> 00:37:28,545
Maybe we can't go back to how beautiful
it was in the sixties, but Right.

675
00:37:28,905 --> 00:37:33,585
Hey, we can make a functional
and beautiful place.

676
00:37:33,975 --> 00:37:34,480
So I think.

677
00:37:35,985 --> 00:37:41,055
That's the context that actually, if the
oil industry says, oh, we gotta do it for

678
00:37:41,055 --> 00:37:49,605
jobs, there are 10 times the amount of
oil workers jobs to be had per, you know,

679
00:37:49,605 --> 00:37:51,795
dollar for dollar in decommissioning.

680
00:37:51,825 --> 00:37:51,975
Mm-hmm.

681
00:37:52,215 --> 00:37:54,970
In, in plugging, decommission
all these old wells full of

682
00:37:55,035 --> 00:37:58,395
cement And then taking them out.

683
00:37:59,070 --> 00:38:01,710
Of the marshes so we can heal the marshes.

684
00:38:01,710 --> 00:38:01,770
Yeah.

685
00:38:02,009 --> 00:38:03,779
Again, so it's not about jobs.

686
00:38:03,960 --> 00:38:10,830
It's hell not about jobs, and it's like
this oil dominance, energy dominance.

687
00:38:10,890 --> 00:38:11,940
What is that?

688
00:38:11,970 --> 00:38:12,450
You know?

689
00:38:15,200 --> 00:38:16,250
I don't know, man.

690
00:38:16,250 --> 00:38:19,310
Our, you know, I love the
United States forever.

691
00:38:19,760 --> 00:38:21,050
Uh, it's my country.

692
00:38:21,350 --> 00:38:26,840
But if we're trying to sell people
oil, we don't have the best reputation

693
00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:29,510
right now for being a good salesman.

694
00:38:30,650 --> 00:38:33,560
Is that, if that's the idea
that what we need Yeah.

695
00:38:33,650 --> 00:38:38,690
To oil to sell to other countries
so we can influence them.

696
00:38:39,390 --> 00:38:42,480
I, I don't know if that's really
where the world is at right

697
00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:43,950
now, you know, I think Right.

698
00:38:43,950 --> 00:38:44,280
What?

699
00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:48,570
Brazil, they have their own oil,
uh, who's gonna buy oil from us?

700
00:38:48,600 --> 00:38:49,890
I mean, yeah.

701
00:38:50,010 --> 00:38:55,230
Saudi Arabia has so much oil, and again,
you talk about it's cheap to drive

702
00:38:55,230 --> 00:38:57,390
a truck rather than to rent a boat.

703
00:38:57,390 --> 00:39:00,690
Well, in Saudi Arabia, they just
push a button, you know, they Yeah.

704
00:39:00,855 --> 00:39:01,055
Yeah.

705
00:39:01,060 --> 00:39:08,250
And so, I mean, and I think the
oil industry is really scared.

706
00:39:08,925 --> 00:39:16,695
They, all of these assets, these leases,
they'll lease the Ocean And then they'll

707
00:39:16,695 --> 00:39:18,855
go get a loan on that from the bank.

708
00:39:18,975 --> 00:39:19,275
Right?

709
00:39:19,275 --> 00:39:21,975
And they've been doing that
for a generation, they're

710
00:39:21,975 --> 00:39:23,565
doing that for generations.

711
00:39:23,955 --> 00:39:29,835
So we have a lot of existing leases in
the Gulf that industry has never touched.

712
00:39:30,585 --> 00:39:34,335
And so you say, well, why don't you drill
that first before drilling new ones.

713
00:39:34,380 --> 00:39:34,440
Yeah.

714
00:39:35,300 --> 00:39:35,590
Yeah.

715
00:39:35,595 --> 00:39:40,230
Um, it's, I, you know, it's, it's
because some of those leases seem to

716
00:39:40,350 --> 00:39:46,410
serve as mere financial assets that they
can tell the bank, oh no, that, that,

717
00:39:46,470 --> 00:39:49,470
that's money in the future that we have.

718
00:39:49,500 --> 00:39:53,165
Yeah, the lease, uh, seems like
the game is, but here you go.

719
00:39:53,165 --> 00:39:55,350
They get that loan And then they spend it.

720
00:39:55,470 --> 00:39:56,955
So now what do they have debt?

721
00:39:56,955 --> 00:39:57,235
Mm-hmm.

722
00:39:57,825 --> 00:39:58,115
Yeah.

723
00:39:58,170 --> 00:40:01,860
So I think you see the
industry is hungry to.

724
00:40:02,550 --> 00:40:06,150
You know, they gotta run really
fast to stay in place or their

725
00:40:06,150 --> 00:40:08,160
debt is gonna catch up with them.

726
00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:09,450
Um mm-hmm.

727
00:40:09,690 --> 00:40:15,300
Especially if the oil price crashes
again, I think when these price

728
00:40:15,300 --> 00:40:17,550
crashes happen, all this, yeah.

729
00:40:17,640 --> 00:40:23,880
The whole house of cards comes tumbling
down And then they look for where to cut.

730
00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:25,770
They look on who to fire.

731
00:40:26,280 --> 00:40:30,180
They look for which environmental
projects to just jettison.

732
00:40:31,845 --> 00:40:39,075
And it, it's, sorry to say, but the
industry, uh, has just been bust and

733
00:40:39,075 --> 00:40:47,025
bust and bust for those of us in the
Gulf to where, uh, we don't think

734
00:40:47,085 --> 00:40:53,535
that they're chasing solutions to
their debt problem rather than, Yeah.

735
00:40:53,535 --> 00:40:58,215
Instead of actually trying to, yeah,
there are, we have solar, we have wind.

736
00:40:58,815 --> 00:41:04,185
There are so much better ways to produce
energy for the domestic and international

737
00:41:04,185 --> 00:41:06,195
market than drilling for oil.

738
00:41:06,195 --> 00:41:12,075
What we have is an industry that's
kind of desperate and desperate to keep

739
00:41:12,165 --> 00:41:16,845
that, uh, their debts from becoming due.

740
00:41:16,845 --> 00:41:20,415
Yeah, so that's also
really what's driving.

741
00:41:21,615 --> 00:41:25,905
You'll see leases that are sold for
cheap by the federal government to these

742
00:41:25,905 --> 00:41:28,155
companies that will never be drilled.

743
00:41:28,725 --> 00:41:34,484
Because they just serve this far off
as tokens in this weird financial game.

744
00:41:35,025 --> 00:41:37,305
So, you know, why are we even here?

745
00:41:37,665 --> 00:41:37,755
Mm-hmm.

746
00:41:37,755 --> 00:41:39,165
It's 2025.

747
00:41:39,170 --> 00:41:39,210
Mm-hmm.

748
00:41:40,395 --> 00:41:42,975
We need to pick up the trash.

749
00:41:43,755 --> 00:41:46,065
That Chevron left in 1940.

750
00:41:46,154 --> 00:41:46,575
Yeah.

751
00:41:47,325 --> 00:41:51,850
And I think we had healthy golf and
a group called True Transition have

752
00:41:52,130 --> 00:41:57,555
produced some reports on this, uh, of how
many, that's really where the jobs are.

753
00:41:57,995 --> 00:42:02,009
That's really where economic
opportunity lies for coastal Louisiana.

754
00:42:02,040 --> 00:42:08,250
'cause if we can pull these old
pipelines out, hire oil workers to

755
00:42:08,250 --> 00:42:13,500
fill the old wells with cement and take
'em out of the marsh, we can, we can

756
00:42:13,799 --> 00:42:19,259
really take our ecosystem restoration
to the next level, which is what we

757
00:42:19,259 --> 00:42:22,290
have to do to survive the rising sea.

758
00:42:23,745 --> 00:42:25,095
Yeah, agreed.

759
00:42:25,395 --> 00:42:28,424
I mean, you make a very
good point on all of these.

760
00:42:28,484 --> 00:42:32,415
On all these cases, uh, you know,
there's public comment is, is

761
00:42:32,415 --> 00:42:34,904
open for people to take action.

762
00:42:34,904 --> 00:42:38,774
Now, you know, you, you've talked
a lot about what you, what you need

763
00:42:38,774 --> 00:42:43,424
people to do, especially in the Gulf
States, you know, people care about,

764
00:42:43,515 --> 00:42:47,205
about their land, they care about their
coastline, they care about their water.

765
00:42:47,205 --> 00:42:49,424
They care about going
out and enjoying nature.

766
00:42:50,415 --> 00:42:53,504
You know, a lot of people when
they go to do public comment, they

767
00:42:53,504 --> 00:42:54,854
don't really know what to say.

768
00:42:54,944 --> 00:42:55,125
Yeah.

769
00:42:55,154 --> 00:42:58,725
What would you recommend that
they say that would make it more

770
00:42:58,725 --> 00:43:04,365
impactful and and influence decision
makers on whether they should go

771
00:43:04,365 --> 00:43:06,104
ahead and continue with this plan?

772
00:43:06,975 --> 00:43:10,305
Well, I would say there's a lot of
reasons we wanna protect the rice

773
00:43:10,305 --> 00:43:12,884
as whale from global extinction.

774
00:43:13,665 --> 00:43:18,225
We mentioned the plight of
indigenous peoples of Louisiana.

775
00:43:19,260 --> 00:43:24,570
How they have petitioned the UN on forced
displacement, so you shouldn't lease.

776
00:43:24,660 --> 00:43:24,750
Mm-hmm.

777
00:43:25,170 --> 00:43:30,150
Because it's this promise to flood
their homes and cemeteries and

778
00:43:30,150 --> 00:43:31,470
put them under the sea forever.

779
00:43:32,280 --> 00:43:34,410
Um, if that moves, you comment on that.

780
00:43:34,410 --> 00:43:41,580
If I, if it's economics, I would
say no leases for anybody behind

781
00:43:41,820 --> 00:43:43,830
on their decommissioning duties.

782
00:43:43,830 --> 00:43:45,870
And I gotta tell you,
that includes Chevron.

783
00:43:45,870 --> 00:43:46,975
That include, that's everybody.

784
00:43:47,910 --> 00:43:52,740
There's a lot of old wells that
are leaking oil into the Gulf

785
00:43:53,190 --> 00:43:55,740
that Chevron needs to hire us.

786
00:43:55,740 --> 00:43:57,240
Hire Louisiana boats.

787
00:43:57,390 --> 00:43:57,480
Mm-hmm.

788
00:43:57,480 --> 00:44:02,250
Hire Louisiana workers to plug before
we give them permission to rip and

789
00:44:02,250 --> 00:44:04,350
run on a new part of the Ocean.

790
00:44:04,680 --> 00:44:09,330
I think that's, I think that's maybe our
piece that you won't hear from Floridians

791
00:44:09,330 --> 00:44:11,625
or, or other good people of the Gulf is.

792
00:44:12,690 --> 00:44:14,730
Don't lease anything.

793
00:44:14,759 --> 00:44:21,150
Don't give 'em another inch of our Ocean
before they've cleaned up their old junk.

794
00:44:21,359 --> 00:44:22,890
Um, yeah.

795
00:44:23,160 --> 00:44:29,040
Uh, because again, and that's where the
jobs are, that's where the future is.

796
00:44:29,220 --> 00:44:34,620
And, uh, that's what we've,
we're, we're here to say, um,

797
00:44:34,830 --> 00:44:36,720
there's more boats right now.

798
00:44:36,720 --> 00:44:38,400
More Louisiana boats.

799
00:44:38,520 --> 00:44:39,630
Well, I shouldn't say that.

800
00:44:39,630 --> 00:44:39,995
Let's say this.

801
00:44:41,775 --> 00:44:48,975
There are just as many Louisiana offshore
service vessels building offshore wind

802
00:44:49,335 --> 00:44:51,825
off Virginia and New York right now.

803
00:44:52,335 --> 00:44:52,425
Mm-hmm.

804
00:44:52,665 --> 00:44:56,805
Than there are, you know, developing
and drilling oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

805
00:44:57,465 --> 00:45:01,125
We, we have so many people outta work.

806
00:45:01,695 --> 00:45:04,875
I think we were really looking
forward to offshore wind as the

807
00:45:04,875 --> 00:45:07,755
future of energy and to bring.

808
00:45:08,145 --> 00:45:10,515
Our maritime industry back.

809
00:45:11,055 --> 00:45:11,805
Um mm-hmm.

810
00:45:12,795 --> 00:45:19,095
So it's absurd that we're still playing
this game, drilling holes to hell.

811
00:45:19,755 --> 00:45:20,625
We could be doing.

812
00:45:20,625 --> 00:45:20,685
Yeah.

813
00:45:21,165 --> 00:45:29,205
So many more smarter, uh, economic, uh, we
could have, we could, we're still drilling

814
00:45:29,205 --> 00:45:35,955
holes to hell when we know we could have
a much smarter and sustainable economy.

815
00:45:37,320 --> 00:45:38,070
Absolutely.

816
00:45:38,160 --> 00:45:39,330
Very well said.

817
00:45:39,450 --> 00:45:44,340
Uh, Scott, this has been so
great to have you on the podcast.

818
00:45:44,400 --> 00:45:45,720
Uh, it's, it's inspiring.

819
00:45:45,990 --> 00:45:49,410
I'll tell you, I've never heard
of anybody speak more passionately

820
00:45:49,830 --> 00:45:53,910
about the Gulf of Mexico in my
life, and I do appreciate that.

821
00:45:53,910 --> 00:45:56,340
I think it goes to show
you're not the only one.

822
00:45:56,340 --> 00:46:00,585
I know there are a. People in, in south,
in, in, you know, the Gulf States in

823
00:46:00,585 --> 00:46:04,665
the southern US who love the Gulf of
Mexico, who visit there every year.

824
00:46:05,024 --> 00:46:05,085
Yeah.

825
00:46:05,115 --> 00:46:09,645
Enjoy their beaches, enjoy the water, who
live off the land, live off the water.

826
00:46:09,944 --> 00:46:13,424
And it's very important that we keep
them in mind, that they speak up as

827
00:46:13,424 --> 00:46:17,325
well as others to support them in
making sure that their livelihoods

828
00:46:17,325 --> 00:46:19,515
and their lifestyles are protected.

829
00:46:19,845 --> 00:46:21,975
And I think that's an
extremely great point.

830
00:46:21,975 --> 00:46:24,225
You've made those points
clear in what, why.

831
00:46:24,440 --> 00:46:27,620
We need to do and what the oil
companies need to do by cleaning

832
00:46:27,620 --> 00:46:30,560
up their stuff before they even
go on to doing something new.

833
00:46:30,560 --> 00:46:31,790
And I do appreciate that.

834
00:46:31,790 --> 00:46:35,120
I hope the administration hears
that from people, not, not

835
00:46:35,120 --> 00:46:36,950
only, but with, but yourself.

836
00:46:36,950 --> 00:46:39,980
Like that you're talking about it,
but everybody else who understands

837
00:46:39,980 --> 00:46:42,530
this now and how important
it is, Scott, this has been.

838
00:46:43,190 --> 00:46:46,670
A huge pleasure to get to know you, and a
huge pleasure to have you on the podcast.

839
00:46:46,730 --> 00:46:49,430
Love to have you back on to talk
more about the golf 'cause that's

840
00:46:49,430 --> 00:46:50,870
a special place in my heart.

841
00:46:51,230 --> 00:46:53,960
Um, you know, since I've been
working there, um, we'd love

842
00:46:53,960 --> 00:46:55,310
to, to chat with you again.

843
00:46:55,904 --> 00:46:56,564
Oh yeah.

844
00:46:56,564 --> 00:46:57,134
Anytime.

845
00:46:57,134 --> 00:47:00,404
Andrew, thanks so much for the time and
thanks for everybody who's listening.

846
00:47:00,584 --> 00:47:03,225
Thank you, Scott, for joining
us on today's episode of the How

847
00:47:03,225 --> 00:47:04,245
to Protect the Ocean Podcast.

848
00:47:04,245 --> 00:47:06,345
What a fantastic storyteller.

849
00:47:06,464 --> 00:47:11,024
I used to work in the Gulf of Mexico
and out stationed outta Louisiana at

850
00:47:11,024 --> 00:47:12,734
Louisiana University's Marine Consortium.

851
00:47:12,825 --> 00:47:13,634
It was a great place.

852
00:47:13,634 --> 00:47:14,955
It was a lovely, wonderful place.

853
00:47:14,955 --> 00:47:18,645
We actually talking just before we
interviewed about how the sunset

854
00:47:18,705 --> 00:47:21,229
and that marsh land is so beautiful.

855
00:47:21,585 --> 00:47:23,565
And there's actually a
live camera from lumcon.

856
00:47:23,565 --> 00:47:25,935
I don't know if it's still up, but there
was a live camera from LUMCON where you

857
00:47:25,935 --> 00:47:29,895
can see the sunset and you can see how
beautiful it is and how peaceful it is.

858
00:47:29,895 --> 00:47:31,695
It's so, so wonderful.

859
00:47:31,755 --> 00:47:34,245
Unfortunately, it's getting flooded
right now 'cause the sea level rise.

860
00:47:34,245 --> 00:47:38,715
It may not be there for very long in
the next decade or so, but that's okay.

861
00:47:38,715 --> 00:47:41,955
LUMCON will still survive their building,
a new building in HOA and gonna be great.

862
00:47:42,015 --> 00:47:47,805
But the one thing that I love is Scott
really emboldens the passion that.

863
00:47:48,015 --> 00:47:53,055
The people in the Gulf States have
for the Gulf of Mexico, he talks about

864
00:47:53,055 --> 00:47:54,645
how, you know it's a boating community.

865
00:47:54,645 --> 00:47:56,564
Louisiana especially
is a boating community.

866
00:47:56,564 --> 00:47:57,524
It's a boating state.

867
00:47:57,524 --> 00:47:59,115
People love to be on the Ocean.

868
00:47:59,205 --> 00:48:00,134
They love to fish.

869
00:48:00,165 --> 00:48:02,475
They love to just enjoy the weather.

870
00:48:02,475 --> 00:48:04,245
They love to enjoy the water.

871
00:48:04,245 --> 00:48:05,265
They want shrimpers.

872
00:48:05,265 --> 00:48:07,964
They have crabbers, they
hunt alligators And so forth.

873
00:48:08,055 --> 00:48:09,870
They just live off the land and they love.

874
00:48:10,205 --> 00:48:10,865
Nature.

875
00:48:10,924 --> 00:48:12,095
They love fishing in their lakes.

876
00:48:12,095 --> 00:48:14,045
They love just being around the water.

877
00:48:14,134 --> 00:48:15,725
They love beaches, they
love their beaches.

878
00:48:15,725 --> 00:48:18,845
He talks a lot about being on a
beach in Mississippi, which is very

879
00:48:18,845 --> 00:48:22,384
undervalued in the tourism industry,
but they do have beautiful beaches,

880
00:48:22,444 --> 00:48:27,305
And so it's just amazing to see the
passion around the way he speaks very

881
00:48:27,305 --> 00:48:32,404
poetic and encapsulates the passion
that people have for the Gulf of Mexico.

882
00:48:32,455 --> 00:48:36,654
In the Gulf of Mexico states, and I
just think it's such an important aspect

883
00:48:36,654 --> 00:48:41,694
to how people see the Gulf of Mexico
and how important it is to protect it.

884
00:48:41,755 --> 00:48:44,755
Even, you know, the differences between
some of the Gulf states, you have

885
00:48:44,755 --> 00:48:48,685
Florida, who doesn't want drilling at
all, but it's okay to do it in Louisiana.

886
00:48:48,685 --> 00:48:50,875
It's very interesting
to see how that happens.

887
00:48:50,904 --> 00:48:54,745
So please keep an eye on that and
look at how people are targeted

888
00:48:54,745 --> 00:48:56,154
and different states are targeted.

889
00:48:56,175 --> 00:49:00,735
When this comes into play and we see
people trying to get leases so that

890
00:49:00,765 --> 00:49:04,665
they can drill potentially in 30 years
down the road in making sure that

891
00:49:04,665 --> 00:49:07,575
climate change just keeps happening and
keeps happening and keeps happening.

892
00:49:07,665 --> 00:49:12,315
These leases are not gonna be drilling by
the next year or by the next two years.

893
00:49:12,315 --> 00:49:13,365
It's gonna take a long time.

894
00:49:13,365 --> 00:49:15,855
And just as Scott said, it's
gonna take 20, 30 years before

895
00:49:15,855 --> 00:49:16,860
these things are even tapped.

896
00:49:17,115 --> 00:49:19,965
And what they need to do is look
after the wells that haven't.

897
00:49:20,395 --> 00:49:23,575
Been decommissioned first, and
there's a lot of jobs within that.

898
00:49:23,575 --> 00:49:26,935
So how about we worry about that before
we worry about drilling new holes?

899
00:49:26,935 --> 00:49:30,265
There should be an essence or just a
hint of responsibility by these oil

900
00:49:30,265 --> 00:49:32,545
and gas companies, but the government
allows them to get away with it.

901
00:49:32,545 --> 00:49:34,705
Not just the government, this
administration, but other

902
00:49:34,705 --> 00:49:35,634
administrations as well.

903
00:49:35,634 --> 00:49:36,325
It's everybody.

904
00:49:36,415 --> 00:49:38,965
And so we need to ensure that
doesn't happen anymore and

905
00:49:38,965 --> 00:49:39,750
that we protect the people.

906
00:49:40,120 --> 00:49:42,970
Protect the environment and
the people who depend on that

907
00:49:42,970 --> 00:49:44,290
environment of the Gulf State.

908
00:49:44,290 --> 00:49:48,940
So I think this was a great episode to
really focus in on the people and why

909
00:49:48,940 --> 00:49:51,670
the Gulf of Mexico matters so, so much.

910
00:49:51,670 --> 00:49:53,170
So this is gonna be an
interesting episode.

911
00:49:53,170 --> 00:49:54,040
I hope you enjoyed it.

912
00:49:54,040 --> 00:49:55,810
I'd love to hear your comments down below.

913
00:49:55,810 --> 00:49:57,940
If you're watching this on YouTube,
if you're listening to this on your

914
00:49:57,940 --> 00:50:01,540
favorite podcast app, whether it be
Spotify, apple Podcast, Amazon Music,

915
00:50:01,540 --> 00:50:04,420
whether you're listening to this on
my website, speak up for blue.com.

916
00:50:04,480 --> 00:50:07,210
Go to speak up for blue.com/feedback.

917
00:50:07,270 --> 00:50:08,230
Let me know what you think.

918
00:50:08,230 --> 00:50:09,430
You can leave a voice message.

919
00:50:09,515 --> 00:50:12,185
Or you can just type in your
message, whatever you'd like

920
00:50:12,185 --> 00:50:13,775
to say about the episode.

921
00:50:13,865 --> 00:50:18,484
And also you can follow us at Speak up for
blue.com/follow on any of those podcasts.

922
00:50:18,484 --> 00:50:21,815
So I wanna thank you so much for
joining me on today's episode of the

923
00:50:21,815 --> 00:50:23,165
How to Protect the Ocean Podcast.

924
00:50:23,165 --> 00:50:25,895
I'm your host, Andrew Lewin from
the True North Strong and Free.

925
00:50:25,895 --> 00:50:26,525
Have a great day.

926
00:50:26,525 --> 00:50:28,654
We'll talk to you next time
and happy conservation.