Recently I’ve told you about one of the more exciting pieces of environmental news we’ve had in Louisiana in some time: The new political crusade led by Gen. Russel Honore, the straight-talking Creole who won deserved high marks for the Katrina recovery in 2005. The now-retired general is working with long-time Louisiana environmentalists and with author John Barry, the former levee-board activist who spearheaded a groundbreaking lawsuit against Big Oil and Gas.
Earlier this month, Honore met with his so-called “Green Army” in Baton Rouge and outlined an impressive environmental agenda for Louisiana. Its cornerstones include barring former oil industry officials from working for the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, or DEQ; forcing lawmakers to recuse themselves from votes on energy matters involving their campaign contributors, and reducing subsidies to the oil, gas and pipeline industries. It’s a bold, radical plan that aims to undo at least some of a century of unchecked Big Oil power in our state. There have even been rumors of a run for governor.
If you want to see for yourself what the fuss is about, Honore was a featured guest Friday night on one of our top public affairs shows, “Louisiana: The State We’re In,” produced by Louisiana Public Broadcasting, or LPB. Appearing with him were two other leading activists, my longtime friend and ally Marylee Orr from the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, or LEAN, and Sandy Rosenthal, the founder of Levees.org. The program is available online — it’s posted below, and I’m hope you’ll watch it. These activists and their nascent movement are offering hope that the state we’re in is going to get a lot better.
Read my Nov. 12 blog post: “Hope for the Louisiana governor’s office”: https://www.stuarthsmith.com/hope-for-the-louisiana-governors-mansion/
The website for “Louisiana, The State We’re In”: http://beta.lpb.org/index.php?swi/
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