Governor John Bel Edwards announced Louisiana will begin to move away from oil and gas and more toward renewable energy sources.

As President Biden continues to shut down oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico, Edwards says the state needs to change course.

Gov. Edwards had this to say:

You’ve got oil and gas companies, whether it’s Shell or BP, all of them re-branding as energy companies, and Louisiana is going to have to move in that direction too otherwise we will get 10, 15, 20 years down the road, and if we haven’t diversified, if we haven’t embraced renewables, then we are going to be in really bad shape.

In his first days in office as president, Joe Biden has crippled the oil and gas industry in Louisiana shutting down oil and gas lease sales, causing thousands of jobs lost.

Governor Edwards says he knows the transition away from fossil fuels won't be an easy one for Louisiana, and he believes it will take decades to complete. He went on to say just shutting down the oil and gas industry would leave over 100,000 people jobless and kill Louisiana's economy.

Edwards plans to meet with President Biden soon to discuss the importance of oil and gas to our state as we eventually start to transition to renewable energy sources and what that needs to look like for Louisiana. He also hopes to convey that we need to continue the production of oil and gas in the Gulf since the transition will be lengthy.

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