GULFPORT, Miss. — Mississippi casino operators are saying they trust state leaders that exploration and drilling would be low-key for natural gas and out of sight of most of the mainland.
However, the operators said in a letter to the Mississippi Development Authority, that they don’t want tourist areas overrun by industrial equipment, boats and workers.
The Sun Herald reports that the letter was sent to the MDA by lawyers for Beau Rivage, Island View and IP casinos. The Beau Rivage and IP are in Biloxi and the Island View is in Gulfport.
In the letter, the casino operators want to know where ports to support exploration and drilling would be located and what routes would be used to move equipment to and from drilling and exploration sites.
The letter was among those MDA received during a 43-day comment period and in public hearings on its draft of offshore leasing and seismic surveying rules.
The casino operators recommended MDA include in its leasing- and seismic-testing rules language from a 2004 offshore oil and gas law that prohibits activity in most of the near-shore waters of the Mississippi Sound.
Many environmentalists and some coastal business leaders still oppose any offshore exploration or drilling and have said even after most of the Sound was put off limits, the barrier islands and other areas could still be harmed.
Casino and some other business leaders reigned in their protest when the 2004 law was written to secure protection for most near-shore water. Only two areas, on the Alabama and Louisiana lines, would allow exploration and drilling nearshore.
Opponents have said the Legislature could easily come back later and open water inside the Sound to drilling, and the Alabama-line area is near fragile habitat.
I guess they are kind of ignoring the fact that a great deal of their income is derrived from offshore workers coming off rotation with nice fat paychecks. And that those who don’t make the casinos their first stop usually try to bring their families at some point during their shoreleave. Oil is very good to the coastal communities, despite the recent gulf spill.
This just in, oil & gas operators have stated that they don’t want tourist areas overrun by gambling boats.
The Casino’s a lucky to even be allowed to operate and have been low key. Now they are their they are flexing their political,mafia style practices. The workers are the ones spending their dough and keeping them afloat during the off season.