New Orleans Panama Trip

Mayor C. Ray Nagin will be joined on Friday by State Representatives Karen Carter and Juan LaFonta, members of the New Orleans City Council, leaders from Jefferson and St. Bernard Parishes, representatives from the Port of New Orleans, transportation officials and local business leaders when he hosts a press conference today to discuss an upcoming fact-finding mission to the Central American country of Panama. During the trip, which begins Saturday, participants will visit two of the country's largest ports. They will also meet with critical agencies to develop relationships and gain information and insights as the New Orleans region prepares for the expansion of the Panama Canal. The regional initiative led by Mayor Nagin marks the first such trip between City and Regional leadership.

Primary Care

The Louisiana Primary Care Association will be hosting its 25th Annual Continuing Education Conference on July 14-16th, 2008 at the Astor Crowne Plaza Hotel located at 739 Canal St., New Orleans, LA. 70130. There will be high ranking officials from both, the state and national governments coming to speak about healthcare on the state and national level. In addition, the conference will feature a panel discussion about the future of the new Medical Home System of Care with officials from the Department of Health and Hospitals, Tulane, LSU Health Science Center and more. For more information go to www.lpca.net.

Katrina Medical Corrections

            On Tuesday, June 8th, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal signed into law, the final of three pieces of legislation designed to protect medical personnel and patients in the event of future disasters.  All three Acts will apply only during declared disasters and are applicable to individual medical personnel (physicians, nurses, emergency medical technicians, along with visiting doctors and nurses from other states).

According to supporters of the legislation, in passing these three bills without a single dissenting vote, the Louisiana legislature recognized that medical care during disasters is rendered under extraordinary circumstances in conditions that are far from traditional, and that protecting medical judgment under such conditions was a necessity.

“It is only fitting that Louisiana took the unprecedented step of righting the wrongs that were done to medical professionals and their patients during and after Hurricane Katrina, and to call national attention to the need for sweeping reforms and protections”, said Dr. Anna Pou, a central organizer of the state’s reform coalition and one of those falsely accused by the state in Katrina-related patient deaths.  Pou was instrumental in organizing, raising funds for and lobbying for the Committee for Disaster Medicine reform

            Other leading organizations involved in passing the landmark legislation were the Louisiana State Medical Society, the Louisiana State Nurses Association and the Louisiana Association of Nurse Anesthetists.  The Louisiana District Attorney’s Association, once thought to be a potential opponent of the bill which provides for criminal liability protections, signed on as an important supporter after recognizing the need for reform and helping to craft a compromise that protected the constitutional rights of law enforcement officials to do their jobs without direct interference.

Atmos Entergy

Atmos Energy Corporation said today that Atmos Pipeline and Storage, LLC, which is an indirectly wholly owned subsidiary of Atmos Energy Corporation, completed a nonbinding open season for its proposed Fort Necessity salt dome gas storage facility located in Franklin Parish, Louisiana.

“We are very pleased with the favorable results of our open season,” said Ron McDowell, Atmos Pipeline and Storage executive vice president. “Our open season participants requested storage capacity that, in total, was more than three times greater than the 5 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of capacity proposed in Phase One of the project.”

The open season participants represent a diverse group of companies in the energy industry, including natural gas utilities, national gas marketing and trading firms, interstate pipelines, natural gas producers and LNG-related companies in the United States and international markets.

“This level of interest confirms the strong desire for high-cyclical storage facilities in the Gulf Coast area, particularly a site like Fort Necessity, located downstream of historical interstate pipeline bottlenecks,” said Mark Johnson, senior vice president, nonregulated operations, for Atmos Energy Corporation.

“In addition, the market participants recognize the Fort Necessity storage location will provide access to premier markets in the Gulf Coast, Midwest and Northeast regions as well as access to a diverse and competitive natural gas supply from the Barnett Shale, Haynesville Shale and Gulf Coast onshore and offshore production,” Johnson said.

Located near Fort Necessity, Louisiana, the proposed development would initially create three 5 Bcf caverns, for an estimated total of 15 Bcf of working gas storage, designed with six-turn injection and withdrawal capabilities. The site has planned interconnects with Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s 800 Leg, Columbia Gulf, ANR, Regency, Texas Gas and Trunkline mainlines.

Drilling operations recently began to obtain core samples necessary to complete the FERC 7C application, which is currently anticipated to be filed in August 2008. Pending regulatory approval, the first cavern is projected to go into operation by mid 2011, with the other two caverns in operation by 2012 and 2014. Based on market demand, four additional storage caverns could potentially be developed.

(Press Release)

Louisiana-Pacific

According to new reports, Louisiana-Pacific Corp. said Friday it will pay $46.8 million to settle antitrust litigation with a class of purchasers of oriented strand board.  The company denies any wrongdoing.  Louisiana-Pacific will pay $44.5 million into an escrow account with an initial payment of $10 million due within 10 business days of the settlement execution date.