Jindal - Joint Associations Hurricane Letter

September 1, 2009 The Honorable Bobby Jindal Governor State of Louisiana P.O. Box 94004 Baton Rouge, LA 70804 Dear Governor Jindal: As we head into the heart of the hurricane season, we wanted to make you aware of an issue under serious consideration by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that has the potential to negatively impact the pre- and post-landfall availability of fuel in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, across the Southeast and into the Mid-Atlantic states. One of the key lessons learned from hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike has been the critical role waivers and, if not waivers, enforcement discretion, play in removing regulatory impediments that inhibit pre-landfall preparations, such as evacuations and emergency response equipment staging, as well as post-landfall activities, such as the availability of fuel for vehicles and generators. The 2005 and 2008 hurricane seasons made the nation acutely aware of the vital importance refinery operations in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi – coupled with Colonial and Plantation pipelines – play in providing motor fuel to both impact and non-impact regions of the country. For example, according to a USDOE “after action” report, Hurricanes Gustav and Ike combined to impact 29 of the 30 refineries supplying product to Colonial – a pipeline system that provides as much as 65 percent of the fuel supplied in several Southeastern and MidAtlantic states. The evacuation of 1.9 million people fleeing Hurricane Gustav a year ago has been cited as the largest in the history of Louisiana – and possibly the history of the United States. This was an unprecedented undertaking that clearly could not have been accomplished without adequate public supplies of motor fuel. The decision to operate, curtail or shutdown refinery operations at facilities along the Gulf Coast during hurricane season is based on a number of factors, with employee safety, safe and environmentally responsible operating practices and public needs being paramount concerns. Given all the ramifications of shutting down (and starting up) a refinery, it is not a decision that is taken lightly. It has come to our attention that EPA is now questioning whether the refineries that supplied the means to allow citizens to get out of harm’s way should have been operating as the storms approached -- and are also questioning the timing of efforts to restart refineries after the storms passed. Further, EPA's current position on whether to grant enforcement discretion leaves refineries operating in the Gulf South with uncertainty regarding potential future penalties from that agency when they are considering whether or not to run, shut down or start up in response to tropical activity.

Jindal - Joint Associations Hurricane Letter September 1, 2009 Page Two

EPA’s long distance second-guessing of refinery operations in and around tropical storms and hurricanes will undoubtedly have a chilling effect on all refining operations within 100 miles of the Gulf of Mexico coastline. The potential losers will be the millions of people across a large swath of the country that, knowingly or not, are dependent on the fuel provided by refiners in the Gulf South. Given the seriousness of the situation, we ask your leadership in convening a summit meeting of federal and state environmental and emergency response agencies as soon as possible to discuss EPA’s position and work to align the various agencies on a path that assures that the availability of fuel is not curtailed just when it is needed most. Besides EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA), representatives from the following agencies, at a minimum, should also be included at the summit: US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), US Department of Energy (DOE), Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), La. Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ), La. Department of Natural Resources (LDNR), Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), Texas Governor’s Division of Emergency Management, Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOSHEP) and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA). The meeting should also include industry representatives directly impacted by this issue. Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Chris John President Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Assn.

Dan Borne President Louisiana Chemical Association

Ben Thompson President US Oil & Gas Association Mississippi/Alabama

Dan Juneau President Louisiana Association of Business & Industry

cc: The Honorable Rick Perry, Office of the Governor, Texas The Honorable Haley Barbour, Office of the Governor, Mississippi Administrator Lisa Jackson, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Steven Chu, U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Janet Napolitano, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Hal Leggett, La. Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Scott Angelle, La. Department of Natural Resources Director Mark Cooper, La. Governor’s Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness Executive Director Mark Vickery, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Chief Jack Colley, Texas Governor’s Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Trudy Fisher, Miss. Department of Environmental Quality Director Mike Womack, Miss. Emergency Management Agency