Our guest is Scott Angelle, who discusses balancing Louisiana's "3 E's" – Environment, Energy, and Economy.

Angelle was the longest-serving Director of the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), from 2017 through 2020. He also served as Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, from 2004 to 2012, and as Lieutenant Governor in 2010.

Angelle served as an elected member from District 2 of the Public Service Commission, as a member of the LSU Board of Supervisors, and chaired Louisiana’s Water Resources Commission. He also served 16 years as a police jury member in St. Martin Parish and as their first Parish President.

Growing up in St. Martin Parish in a large family, Angelle was one of nine children who were raised to respect others. "Family is everything. We were blessed to have two wonderful parents. To those who have been given a great opportunity comes a great responsibility to improve the world. We were always taught that our community is a reflection of our individual efforts." Angelle's parents owned the local Ford dealership and he recalled how values of inclusion and kindness to all were instilled in him at a young age.

Angelle's career experiences have afforded him a deep understanding of the need to protect the environment while the drilling for fossil fuels continues. His most recent experience as Director of BSEE involved promoting safety, protecting the environment, and conserving resources through the regulatory oversight and enforcement of energy industry operations on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. During his first days in office at BSEE in 2017, the General Accountability Office placed offshore oil and gas drilling on its list of unsafe and dangerous high-risk programs, not a list anyone wants to be on; over the next few years, Angelle successfully focused efforts to improve safety and on getting the industry off this list. Today, the offshore oil and gas industry is ranked as the second safest high-hazard industry in America.

Angelle stresses that the U. S. is not well-served by being reliant on foreign energy sources. He's become a student of history and shared trends that can't be ignored: from 1973 to 2019, there were six U. S. recessions that were each preceded by a spike in energy prices. His conclusion: It is in our nation's best interest to keep energy prices flat in order to keep the economy on an even keel, maintain our national security, and protect the quality of life for our citizens. "History tells us that if we lose energy independence and prices rise, we will go into a recession. People will be laid off and cars will sit on the lots. It's called 'demand destruction.'"

But not all barrels of oil are created equally. "We can be big, big winners in the Gulf of Mexico." Angelle wants people to understand the science of drilling offshore in the Gulf of Mexico and the desirability of pursuing this ecologically friendly option. The carbon intensity of oil that is extracted from the Gulf of Mexico, particularly in the Central Gulf, which is loaded with hydrocarbons (offshore of Louisiana,) is very low, in fact, its low-intensity rating is only exceeded by Saudi Arabian oil. The importance of this? The higher the carbon intensity, the more likely burning of the fuel will cause an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which will trap heat, leading to climate change. According to Angelle, "Gulf of Mexico oil is good for our economy and the environment. We can improve our environment by replacing foreign oil with Gulf oil and create jobs locally."

A big issue in America is how we are responding to climate change challenges. Angelle cited a 2016 Obama/Biden report that concluded "if we don't have regularly schedule resale of leases in the Gulf of Mexico,