Debbie Riddle

Representative Riddle Warns of Oil Spill’s Impending Impact on Houston Economy

// June 15th, 2010 // Uncategorized

AUSTIN – After spending several days meeting with top officials in Washington D.C. and Louisiana, Representative Debbie Riddle (R – District 150) said the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has triggered an economic domino effect that could spell disaster for the Houston area.

“It doesn’t matter if a drop of oil ever hits Texas shores,” Riddle said. “The effects of fishing bans and drilling moratoriums combined with the environmental fallout are going to cost Texas millions of dollars and thousands of jobs unless we get this situation under control immediately.”

Riddle, who chairs the National Foundation for Women Legislators (NFWL), visited last Friday with U.S. Coast Guard officials at the White House before travelling to Louisiana to meet with BP executives, members of the Louisiana legislature, and fishermen along the Gulf Coast regarding containment strategies and the potential impact of the disaster on Texas businesses.

The trip was coordinated by Riddle and the NFWL as a way for the Foundation’s members to educate themselves on the spill, as well as communicate their constituent’s viable solutions to the proper authorities.

“There are Houston-based businesses with some of the world’s top scientists and engineers who have developed real strategies for how to solve these problems,” Riddle said. “But they can’t get through the bureaucratic red-tape to get the ideas into the hands of the people who can really use them.”

But Riddle said the meetings made another reality clear: the link between the Houston economy and the Louisiana fishing industry.

“When shrimpers can’t catch it, then our Houston-area businessmen can’t process it, and our restaurants and grocery stores can’t sell it,” Riddle said. “That means we lose businesses and jobs, and our state economy loses millions more dollars in revenue, and that’s only one of many industries that could be impacted.”

Efforts by the NFWL members to relay their constituents’ ideas have already made an impact, and Riddle believes local companies may soon have a seat at the table as the clean-up continues.

Over the last month NFWL’s Energy, Natural Resources & Agriculture Policy Committee has jumped into action to emphasize the importance of bringing the nation together to find solutions, forming NFWL’s Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Coalition. Women legislators, who are active with the Coalition and serving as Team Leaders for the Committee in their states, are working to implement an organized strategy utilizing state leaders to help mitigate the economic impact.

“This is an opportunity to foster true innovation,” Riddle said. “The solutions that are going to be produced by these partnerships don’t just help fix this current mess, but they will also help us solve our future energy problems by helping us safely tap our domestic fossil-fuel potential.”

“Representative Riddle is working with a network of elected women leaders from all 50 states who believe that now is not the time to point fingers, but instead work together as a nation to identify and implement solutions,” said Robin Read, NFWL’s President & CEO.

“Despite being in the middle of a recession, it is important for the Administration, federal labs, universities, high-tech industries and the oil and gas industries to work together in facing this challenge,” Read said. “This Coalition is committed to facilitating this communication, cutting through the red-tape and bringing real solutions and collaborations to the table.”

Through critical public-private partnerships, the NFWL Coalition is able to determine the best technologies and methods to assist with clean-up efforts – efforts that will have an impact on the Gulf Coast’s wildlife, land, and economic viability.