House candidates stand up for oil and gas

PATTERSON — To judge by Monday’s Chamber of Commerce candidate forum, the oil and gas industry will have the ear of the next state representative from Louisiana House District 50.
Four of the candidates who qualified to succeed Democratic state Rep. Sam Jones, who is stepping down because of term limits, appeared on the forum stage at the Patterson Area Civic Center. They were Republicans Chet Howard and Vincent J. St. Blanc, both of Franklin, and Javon Charles of Bayou Vista and Raymond Harris of Franklin, who qualified without a party preference.
The fifth candidate who qualified, Shawn Canty of Berwick, didn’t take part in the forum.
The primary will be Oct. 12.
The four candidates who participated Monday all said the industry is hurting from high taxes and an unfavorable legal climate.
Howard, a manager for a company in the oil and gas sector, went farthest.
“We’re extremely over-regulated. …,” Howard said. “We need to find a way figure out a way to eliminate a lot of those unnecessary regulations.”
He also called the governor’s support of lawsuits against the oil industry over its alleged role in coastal loss “ridiculous.” LeBlanc and Harris congratulated St. Mary officials for refusing to sign onto those lawsuits.
Harris, a former Franklin mayor and chief financial officer, said the lawsuits “have become a thorn in their side. ... The legal climate in Louisiana is such that it deters companies from coming here. With that climate, businesses don’t want to be here.”
Charles pointed to the disparity between severance taxes between Texas, where energy producers are taxed at less than 5%, and Louisiana, where the tax is above 12%.
St. Blanc, a member of the Board of Supervisors for Louisiana’s community and technical college system, said predictability is important for the oil and gas industry.
“They want a predictable tax …,” St. Blanc said. “We can’t be coming in and patching holes in budgets because we run on a yearly budget. All they want to do is have a fair tax they can put in their budgets — predictable, can’t go back on it.”
He also stressed the importance of technical training for a skilled workforce.
All four candidates stressed the need to improve infrastructure — roads, bridges and especially flood control.
Howard said that as a member of the military deployed overseas, he often saw roads that were better than those in St. Mary Parish.
All four candidates expressed support for flood control projects that are underway, including the permanent flood gate in Bayou Chene, an $80 million project, and the Teche work designed to reduce flooding in Franklin, Centerville and Garden City.
Charles, who has five years of experience in law enforcement and is a Community Foundation of Acadiana Role Model of the Year, also said he would look at the possibility of a pump station in Patterson and a levee to protect Stephensville.