Louisiana ranks lowest in child well-being and nearly all life quality issues

Portland, Oregon captures the Taste of Louisiana food yet ranks much higher than Louisiana in quality of life

Several years ago news reports observed Louisiana as 49th in child well-being and ranking low on virtually all scales involving quality of life, while at the same time high in crime.  Are these statistics true these days and how has the cost of gas figured into the rise and fall of Louisiana funds?

While state government politicians and big oil money folks talk about the need for money, where does it go if the quality of life is impaired and there has been so much money produced from oil and gas.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation was the one that ranked Louisiana 49th among states in overall child well-being.  It looks at a number of factors that include children's health, economic status, family structure and education. and the.

At the time Judy Watts, President/CEO of Agenda for children said, “It is truly disheartening to see Louisiana ranked 49th in the KIDS COUNT Data Book for the ninth straight year,” “For far too long, Louisiana’s high poverty rate has been the root cause of Louisiana’s poor rankings on many of these indicators. With many Louisiana families suffering from the effects of the recession and the recent oil spill, it is more important than ever that families have the opportunities they need to become self-sufficient.”

Historically Louisiana has always ranked low in the areas of health,education, child welfare and status of the elderly.  Its infrastructure has been found in serious disrepair statewide.  The areas where it ranks high are in crime rate and its elements of fun from Mardi Gras to festivals to drinking, smoking and drugs.  

In October 2014 Louisiana ranked again among the top ten lowest on all factors of quality of life.

24/7 Wall Street made the observations, summarizing the findings with this:

"A typical Louisiana resident is expected to live less than 76 years, a lower life expectancy than in all but three other states. Many Louisiana communities are also quite dangerous. There were nearly 11 murders per 100,000 people in the state in 2013, the highest homicide rate nationwide and in the worst 10% of all OECD regions. Nearly 20% of the population lived in poverty in 2013, more than in all but two other states. Louisiana boasts a highly productive natural gas industry, with more than 3,000 trillion BTUs produced in 2012, more than any other state except for Texas. However, this also exposes the state's economy to fluctuations in energy prices."

Yet this is a state that has hydraulic fracturing as well as oil and gas exploration in the coastal waters of the Gulf region.  In spite of the income, the state languishes in areas that count when it comes to citizen well-being.

Many of Louisiana's legislative members are members of ALEC, a conservative organization.  Overall the State votes red on almost everything, identifying itself with conservative legislation, like much of the rest of the South.

Yet the politics of conservatism do not appear to have served the population well, given quality of life issues, as experts observe.

And the central force behind the economy of oil and gas companies support many of the key lawmakers as well.  So oil and gas and politics remain big players in Louisiana.

But while the politicians play in the oil fields, the people of Louisiana have little extra money with which to play at all.

Oil giant said ill prepared, not watchful for risks and dangers ofdeepwater drilling

Carol Forsloff - Whether it was how to take care of an abandoned well or to maintain safety for
deepwater drilling, the oil giant BP and its associates failed in its
responsibilities, thus creating the oil spill and future problems on the
Gulf Coast.

They also failed from "near misses" says a report of preliminary findings from a committee of the National Academy of Engineering  and the National Research Council.

Critical
checks and balances were not maintained for "abandoning" the
exploratory well or for sealing it prior to production, which did not
properly consider safety standards.

"Important
decisions made to proceed toward well abandonment despite several
indications of potential hazard suggest an insufficient consideration of
risks" said Donald Winter, former secretary of the Navy, professor of
engineering practice at the University of Michigan, and chair of the study committee.

Winter
went on to discuss the consequences of these decisions, "It’s also
important to note that these flawed decisions were not identified or
corrected by BP and its service contractors, or by the oversight process
employed by the U.S. Minerals Management Service and other regulatory
agencies"

Barriers
to finding out the whole truth of what happened prior to and following
the oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010 include the
deaths of the 11 witnesses on board, the loss of the oil rig and
important records as well as the problems getting reliable forensics
information from the Maconda well, according to the experts involved in
examining these issues.

Engineers
involved in this critical report tell us part of the problem was the
fact cement was not properly placed and therefore did not provide enough
of a barrier to prevent gases from entering the well.  There were also
failures in monitoring the well, allowing hydrocarbons to enter it
undetected.  Aggressive and timely action to control the well was not
taken. 

The problem of the blowout preventer that did not seal the well once activated was also cited by this committee report.

All
of these conditions fostered the accident that occurred, the BP oil
spill that devastated the Gulf Coast shoreline and that some experts
believe will take many years to properly alleviate the problems that

were caused.