AG Landry rips president's energy policies

President Joe Biden’s policies and executive orders are “absolutely destructive” to the state and the nation, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said Wednesday at a St. Mary Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Morgan City.
Landry particularly focused on the oil and gas industry.
While he said he is not opposed to wind- and solar-generated energy, he said the state will fight mandates and executive orders from Congress that “crush our jobs.”
He said so much work was done to make the country more energy independent, and now the opposite will be happening.
Landry noted that the state, along with 12 others, has filed suit against the president when he took action against the KeystoneXL Pipeline. The move is an “absolute unconstitutional overreach of the president’s authority to just be able to say we’re just not going to drill on federal property anymore,” Landry said. “We’ve got oil and gas companies who have valid leases, who have valid drilling plans, who have valid permits in the pipeline.”
Landry said it takes years for these oil and gas projects to come to fruition.
“You can’t just turn the industry on and off like a light switch, and what’s so unfortunate about it is that this is an industry that has built the middle class like no other industry in the United States,” Landry said.
The industry has helped people escape poverty worldwide, too, the attorney general said.
“Think about the benefits of electricity and oil and gas and the effect it has had on third world countries and taking third-world countries from a third-world status to a second-world status,” he said. “Think about that. We talk about all the things we do, all the things that government does to lift the people out of poverty. No one has done it better than the oil and gas industry.”
Landry said that during Biden’s term, the country likely can expect the same treatment extended from Republican attorney generals towards the president regarding executive orders that Democratic attorney generals gave former President Donald Trump during his tenure.
The attorney general also discussed accomplishments achieved during his six years in office.
He said he created Louisiana’s first Solicitor’s General’s office, which now has expanded.
“It’s from that office that we’re able to push back against federal overreach, and it’s from that office that we get to challenge now the executive orders that are coming out of the White House,” Landry said.
Landry also said that the Attorney General’s Office has created the Louisiana Bureau of Investigations and also has focused on internet crimes against children.
“I can tell you, that is a dire situation, probably almost as bad as what’s going on at the border,” he said of internet crimes against children. “I can remember six years ago walking into that unit at a time when they were taking cases basically on tips, and now it’s like a flood. We literally do not have enough bodies to process the information that’s coming to us.”
Landry said while smartphones can be useful when used correctly, they also can be “one of the most dangerous things” given to a child because children can be contacted from there and manipulated.
Landry also addressed the opioid epidemic.
He said through a settlement with Pfizer, the state received $1 million worth of Naloxone, which is an antidote for those in a coma brought on by opioid overdose and saves lives.
The attorney general said the state has distributed more than 20,000 doses to first responders, with still more available.
They hope to improve drug courts using money they expect to receive from litigation against manufactures and distributors, too.
A bill being taken up this legislative session will use the money they anticipate receiving from this legal action for the improvement of these courts.
Landry said to bring the opioid epidemic under control means removing addicts from the streets and placing them in a program where they can return to the community after getting the help they need.
He said offenders who utilize drug court have a recidivism rate of 7% compared to the 35% rate of those who go to jail instead.