Gov. Jeff Landry joined a group of his Republican colleagues from other states on Monday to call for fewer federal regulations on domestic energy production, using a Chalmette refinery as a backdrop.
The press conference with Landry and six other governors was held at PBF Energy’s refinery, on the sidelines of a Republican Governors Public Policy Committee meeting in New Orleans.
While the United States has been producing more oil than any country in history, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the governors said that should be increased further, in part to bring down costs on consumers.
Questioned about climate change, the governors argued that the United States produces fuels more cleanly than foreign countries like China. They also said they favored an “all-of-the-above energy approach,” pointing to states like Oklahoma’s wind power production.
Landry was joined by Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. A total of 20 governors signed a letter sent to President Joe Biden laying out their proposals.
“When you unleash American ingenuity, when you take the government’s foot off the throat of the great people in this country, you see some unbelievable industries take hold,” Landry said, pointing to China’s coal-fired power plants as a bigger concern than U.S. energy production. “And so if you want to do anything on climate change, you should go stop China.”
Landry has in the past questioned the science behind human-caused climate change, referring to it as a “hoax.”
The letter sent to Biden contains 10 proposals, ranging from increasing the number of lease sales for all forms of energy to ending the pause on liquefied natural gas export approvals, put in place in part to better assess the environmental impacts. Criticizing what it calls “regulatory overreach,” the letter also calls on the White House to roll back pollution rules related to methane and particulate matter.
Louisiana’s position as a major oil and gas producer, as well as the location of a wide range of petrochemical plants, means it is heavily implicated in those regulatory changes, intended to both lower greenhouse gas emissions and protect communities from harmful pollution.
The burning of oil and gas is an important contributor to human-caused climate change, which is also deeply affecting Louisiana, particularly through sea level rise along its eroding coastline.