By the numbers: 2016 property tax assessments for East Baton Rouge Parish properties are now available on Open Data BR, the city-parish’s website for data and public information. The newly released data also includes reassessments of properties impacted by the August flood. The website allows users to compare last year’s property values versus 2015 assessments, as well as check out property transfers, fair market values, total assessed values and taxable amount of parcels. Access the data.
Taking the lead: Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, has been named chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. The subcommittee oversees water resources development and regulatory programs administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as other agencies and water-related program. The subcommittee also will translate into legislation President Donald Trump’s infrastructure package with respect to flood protection, coastal restoration, ports, bridges and waterways. In a press release, Graves says he will use his role as chairman to shape legislation that limits the scope and economic damages of federal regulations, shortens the time it takes for projects to be completed and brings efficiency to how the government works.
Under the sea: A new subsea production system at one of BP’s major oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico has begun collecting crude from a prolific new well, FuelFix.com reports. BP’s effort to expand operations south in the deep-water Thunder Horse field, which it discovered in 1999, could eventually bring output up by 50,000 barrels of oil and gas equivalent per day there, raising its deep-water Gulf production by about one-fifth. The British driller broke with oil industry tradition by assembling a three-story manifold—a seafloor system that collects oil from multiple wells—and flowlines with standardized equipment, rather than building a new customized system piece by piece. Costs for the project came in 15% under budget, saving about $150 million. Read the full story.
