Energy crisis as seen by an energy producing state

What lifted Louisiana into the modern industrial economy was its petroleum resources. Billions of barrels of oil and condensate, and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas have been taken from the state and the waters off the coast. Technology of offshore drilling and production has been developed largely off the coast. Tapping of these resources has provided jobs for many of Louisiana's people in drilling and production. The cold, hard look of the situation now is that the peak of oil and gas production in Louisiana was in fiscal year 1970-1971. Since then, oil production from Louisiana and coastal waters has been declining at a rate of 8% per yr, and natural gas production has been declining at the rate of 3% per yr. The effect of this on taxes collected is described. The U.S. has an energy management problem. Shortsightedness in one way or another has caused a critical energy shortage this year. What is needed is a vast increase in basic and applied energy research in order to improve production, distribution, and consumption. Some of the possibilities like coal gasification, nuclear energy, oil shale production, and others need to be developed to the point of practical economicmore » realities.« less