In good standing: Moody’s Investors Service today affirmed Louisiana’s current AA credit rating, noting the state’s progress in addressing structural finance concerns through the fiscal year 2016 budget, according to a news release from the Division of Administration. This confirmation came in a report regarding Louisiana’s $73.7 million Unclaimed Property Revenue Bonds that will fund segments of the I-49 South project. The report notes that the current fiscal year budget closed a gap previously estimated at $1.6 billion by increasing recurring revenues, reducing the use of one-time funding sources to approximately $550 million—compared to $1 billion last year—and implementing cost savings to improve the efficiency of state agencies’ services.
Under the microscope: A Sorrento city council member and his wife have been indicted on federal charges alleging fraud in a claim for damages resulting from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, The Associated Press reports. Baton Rouge-based U.S. Attorney Walt Green says Randy Anny and Barbara Falgoust Anny were indicted by a grand jury on charges of conspiracy and wire fraud. The two allegedly claimed Anny’s 26-foot boat had been damaged by the BP oil spill while at Grand Isle. They allegedly submitted a fraudulent invoice that resulted in $7,800 being paid into a bank account they controlled in 2011. A call by The AP to a telephone number listed under Randy Anny’s name was not answered.
Going the other way: ExxonMobil Corp. has reversed part of an oil pipeline from northeastern Texas to northern Louisiana in the first step of a bigger plan to link Permian Basin output to Louisiana refineries, Reuters reports. Exxon last month reversed a 71-mile segment of its North Line pipeline from Longview, Texas, to Shreveport and Finney in northern Louisiana, the company says. That segment helps feed about 15,000 barrels per day of Texas crude to Delek U.S. Holdings’ Arkansas refinery, displacing barrels that had been trucked or railed to the plant at higher transportation costs. Delek moves barrels from Shreveport to the refinery via its Magnolia pipeline system. Read the full story.
