Politics & Policy

Louisiana and southeast Texas are well positioned to benefit from the transition to a less carbon-intensive energy future, a Harvard University professor who worked on a major study says.

The Interior Department today is auctioning vast oil and gas reserves in the Gulf of Mexico estimated to hold up to 1.1 billion barrels of crude, the first such sale under President Joe Biden and a harbinger of the challenges he faces to reach climate goals that depend on deep cuts in fossil fuel emissions.

Louisiana is in line for almost $595 million in newly approved Community Development Block Grants for disaster recovery and mitigation, says Kevin Bush, deputy assistant secretary for grant programs with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Efforts by some state officials to withdraw Louisiana from the interstate power grid that brought competition to a market once dominated by Entergy have stalled. A day before it was to hold a vote on the matter, the Louisiana Public Service Commission postponed a proposal to issue a one-year notice of withdrawal from the MISO power grid.

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry announced this morning he has filed a lawsuit against a new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rule that mandates COVID-19 vaccines for employees, which he says will cause a health care shortage.

Dillard Department Stores, parent company of the Dillard’s chain, is suing Louisiana’s state economic development department and Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Don Pierson, alleging Pierson and LED reneged on a verbal agreement to pay the company $3.5 million. 

From the 2019 statewide cycle through the primary that was concluded this past weekend, members of the Louisiana Legislature have successfully passed constitutional amendments only 50% of the time.

The Louisiana Public Service Commission on Wednesday may take a step toward withdrawing from the interstate power grid that has, for the last decade, allowed power companies besides Entergy and Cleco to provide electricity to Louisiana. 

A large number of NCAA student athletes, including many at LSU, are from outside of the U.S., meaning visa restrictions may prevent them from taking advantage of the same NIL rules afforded their teammates.

An out-of-state business today sued Louisiana and several parishes to challenge the state's patchwork approach to collecting sales taxes, days after voters rejected a constitutional change that would have centralized those tax collections in a single board.