Micah 6:8 Mission is an organization made up of Louisiana lovers. We love its swampy marshlands, its unrivaled sunsets, its music—be it jazz, zydeco, or songbirds. But more than anything, we love its people, because we are its people.
That might be something that, unfortunately, Governor Landry doesn’t understand. As beautiful as Louisiana is, its citizens do not have clean air or water, nor do we have protection from the increasingly frequent hurricanes and heatwaves. But our governor is less concerned with fixing those problems than he is with serving the industries that cause them and attacking the Louisianans trying to protect this gorgeous state of ours.
About a week ago, Landry decided to put his love of industry into writing in the Shreveport Times, claiming that efforts like ours are “astroturf and not grassroots” because of our funding sources and that we’re hampering the state economically by calling out the industries that are poisoning us.
According to Governor Landry, the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries are bringing jobs and reliable energy to the state. But the view from here in Sulphur, Louisiana—which boasts 10 petrochemical and fossil fuel plants within a mere 3 miles of each other—tells a very different story. We’re not seeing economic prosperity; we’re seeing cancer-causing chemicals in the water and air more visible than it is breathable. Our children are growing up with asthma and skin conditions before they’re even out of elementary school.
These industries aren’t bringing the jobs they claim to bring, and the ones that pay well are not going to our neighbors. Yet, they receive more than $20 billion in Louisiana tax incentives—none of which goes toward creating economic benefits for regular Louisianans, as research shows. All of that while the state ranks 49th for GDP and population growth in the nation and has one of the highest rates of death from cancer. Not to mention our disappearing wetlands and forests, which contradict our claim to fame as a “sportsman’s paradise.”
Louisiana does have real problems. But our governor is too busy listening to the industry to hear them, let alone solve them. What little time he takes away from that, he spends attacking the everyday Louisianans, like us, trying to save themselves. Perhaps he doesn’t love Louisiana like we do.
