Government agencies can work
It’s all the rage to bash governmental agencies. Folks are tired of taxes, tired of the political wrangling that prevents much from happening (which might be a good thing) and turned off by partisan sniping reminiscent of spoiled children.
But sometimes government can be a good thing.
Case in point: Ship Shoal Block 26 off the Terrebonne Parish coastline.
Anglers were shocked back in May when it was discovered that crews were busily dismantling the various structures, which anglers had dubbed “the Pickets,” because of the federal Idle Iron policy requiring removal of decommissioned oil and gas facilities in the Gulf of Mexico.
Panicked anglers decried the move, saying they were losing valuable fishing habitat and would be left with a major hole in their fishing strategies. Sure, there were some other structures in the region that would remain to hold summertime trout, but removal of the Pickets would have meant anglers had to run many miles between fishing holes once trout left the inshore waters to lounge just off the coast.
Apache Corporation, was in a real fix — it was bound by its lease agreement to remove the structures, but the company was getting pummeled by the fishing public who wanted them to stop.
Everyone pretty much figured the entire block of water would be denuded of habitat. They complained loudly, but no one expected any remedies.
And then the federal agency in charge of the Idle Iron policy did something completely unexpected — it showed rare common sense.
After admitting that it didn’t realize the facilities making up the Pickets were such hotspots (it’s a relatively small area and is in such shallow water that the removal work didn’t set off any bells at the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement), the agency made it clear that they would be OK with a postponement of the work to provide time for a deal to be worked out between Apache and the state.
A flicker of hope.
But the issue remained in doubt because of the shallow water depths, which pretty much rules out dropping the structures in place. And it was clear Apache would be hesitant to leave its old structures standing in today’s litigious environment.
So a Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries announcement in late May that an agreement had been hammered out to leave the structures alone for the time being was greeted with cheers by the fleet of anglers that makes regular visits to Ship Shoal 26.
The future of the site is still foggy, but state and federal agencies have vowed to keep some type of habitat in place even if the standing structures are ultimately removed.
It’s great to see public officials address constituents’ needs.
That’s how government should work.
