Scalise hears constituents on flood pumps, gas costs

• By JOE GYAN JR.
• Advocate New Orleans bureau
• Published: May 28, 2008 - Page: 13A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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NEW ORLEANS — Pumps were on the minds of residents of Louisiana’s 1st Congressional District on Tuesday as newly elected U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise held his first town hall meeting with voters in the six-parish district previously represented by Gov. Bobby Jindal.

About two dozen people who came to a Knights of Columbus hall in New Orleans’ hurricane-torn Lakeview area voiced their concerns about the skyrocketing cost of fuel at the gas pumps as well as flood-protection pumps installed near the mouths of three outfall canals in the city.

Scalise, R-Metairie, also discussed with his small audience such topics as the taxation of Road Home grants, the lack of a Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina, and Louisiana’s need for a greater share of oil and gas revenues from the Outer Continental Shelf.

Scalise said the escalating price of gas has exposed this country’s need for a national energy policy.

“At some point our country needs to get its head out of the sand,’’ he said.

Scalise also emphasized the need for oil exploration and drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, off the coast of California and in the Florida Everglades.

“I strongly support increased oil production,’’ he said, adding that OPEC is not going to increase supplies to meet the growing demand. “We’ve got the answer right here in our own country. We’ve got reserves all throughout our country.’’

Scalise said Louisiana is an example that oil exploration and drilling can be achieved without harming the environment.

“We’ve proven you can do it in an environmentally safe way,’’ he said.

Barbara Sallettes, who is living in Metairie while her Katrina-destroyed Lakeview home is rebuilt, said the big U.S. oil firms and the American public must accept some of the blame for the current state of gas prices.

“Energy companies aren’t really cooperating with the government,’’ she told Scalise.

Sallettes also said after the meeting that Americans “aren’t used to conserving.’’ She said the home she is rebuilding in Lakeview will be energy efficient.

“I’m doing everything I can,’’ she said.