Back on The Hill: Former U.S. Rep. Rodney Alexander has joined The Picard Group, a governmental affairs and lobbying firm based in Lafayette with offices in Washington and Baton Rouge. Alexander will serve as senior director of federal affairs in Washington, The Advertiser reports. “Rodney Alexander is one of the most experienced and well-liked members of Congress,” Tyron Picard, founder of The Picard Group, says in a prepared release. “He has a long history of bringing people together, reaching across the aisle and getting things done. We are extremely proud to have him join our organization.” Alexander represented Louisiana’s 5th congressional district from 2003-13, serving on many significant committees, including the House Appropriations, Energy and Water Development, Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and the Financial Services. He most recently served as secretary of the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs. Read the full story.
Facts and figures: As a Christian Science Monitor breakfast Monday, Gov. Bobby Jindal said: “The total higher education budget, including means of total finance—is actually a little bit, just slightly, higher than when I took office.” In its latest fact checker series, The Washington Post gives that statement “three pinocchios” of a possible four, indicating “significant factual error and/or obvious contradictions.” The Post notes there are numerous ways to calculate the overall higher education budget. “Depending on how the numbers are manipulated, Louisiana’s higher education budget is anywhere between $2 million higher or $590 million lower than it was when Jindal took office,” it reports. “But even by using Jindal’s optimistic figures, it is misleading to say that the total higher education budget increased while he was governor. That may be correct using his specific calculation, but it is an inaccurate portrayal.” Read the full story.
Turning and burning: Electricity companies in the lower 48 U.S. states gobbled up record amounts of natural gas to generate power in January 2015 as low prices made it cheaper to burn than coal. Power generators used an average 23.1 billion cubic feet per day of gas in January 2015, up 13% from 20.5 bcfd in January 2014, according to Thomson Reuters Analytics. That was the most gas consumed by the power sector during the month of January on record, according to federal data going back to 1973. Gas prices at the Henry Hub benchmark in Louisiana and at New York City averaged $2.97 and $8.35 per million British thermal units, respectively, in January 2015, well below $4.59 at the Henry Hub and $30.51 in New York in January 2014. Read the full story.
