Louisiana AG Jeff Landry Denounces Hurricane Warnings as ‘Bad for Business’
BATON ROUGE — Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry stood outside the Louisiana State Capitol today as winds from the incoming Hurricane Zeta began to pick up to condemn the hurricane warning issued by Governor John Bel Edwards.
“People have got to be able to get back to work,” Landry told reporters on the capitol steps. “I mean, what does the governor expect us to do? Just hunker down and hide inside our homes because of a little wind? The people of Louisiana have a right to go outside, no matter what the conditions.”
Governor Edwards elevated the advisory from a hurricane watch to a hurricane warning and petitioned President Trump for a federal emergency declaration ahead of a potentially life-threatening storm surge.
“I anticipate the need for emergency protective measures, evacuations, and sheltering for high-risk areas,” Edwards wrote. Placing parts of Louisiana under a hurricane warning and receiving a federal declaration can help protect residents who are most at risk of the catastrophic effects of the storm.
Landry has been a vocal critic of the governor’s COVID restrictions, filing a petition this past week to terminate the state’s public health emergency declaration.
Doing so would make Louisiana, one of the pandemic’s hardest-hit regions, the only state in the country without a public health emergency declaration and potentially end federal aid aimed at helping states recover from the virus.
“99.9% of Louisiana residents won’t die from this storm,” Landry said. “Closing businesses and locking people inside their homes will only make the situation worse.”
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Pat Enis is an award-winning journalist committed to the truth in all its forms. Winner of the 2009 Dickems Prize, his work has been featured in prominent, respected publications including The Daily Dingle, Gentleman Caller, and The New York Times. You can contact him at pat.enis1969@gmail.com.
