This weekend, fans across the country will tune into Super Bowl Sunday to see which team executes better, adapts faster, and caps off the season with a Lombardi Trophy. Louisiana should take a page from that same championship playbook when it comes to our energy future, and the Pelican Institute’s new Roadmap to Reform offers exactly the kind of strategic game plan we need.
Winning football teams don’t succeed by accident. They rely on a coherent scheme, clear roles, disciplined execution, and leadership willing to make tough calls. Louisiana’s energy policy needs the same fundamentals: regulatory certainty, free-market principles, and an offensive line that protects opportunity. Pelican’s Roadmap to Reform is a market-driven energy blueprint built around six priority pillars designed to make Louisiana the most energy-dominant state in America by 2035.
Why does this matter? Because Louisiana already has the tools to win. We are a global energy hub, producing oil and natural gas, exporting LNG, and operating infrastructure that rivals any state in the nation. But the energy landscape is changing fast. Without bold reforms, we risk watching competitors rack up touchdowns while we stay stuck in the huddle.
First and foremost, the Roadmap calls for streamlining permitting and environmental reviews responsibly so critical infrastructure isn’t endlessly stalled by red tape. Today, major energy projects—pipelines, LNG facilities, transmission lines, solar projects, power plants—can languish for years in federal and state review processes with no clear timelines, no predictable standards, and no real finality even after permits are issued. The result is a system that discourages investment, chills innovation, and turns energy policy into a political pendulum swinging wildly from one year to the next.
There is a better way forward—one that applies consistent standards across all energy technologies, maintains strong environmental protections, and actually gets projects built.
Think of it this way: every permitting delay is a penalty flag on offense. Yardage is lost. Momentum stalls. Drives fall apart. A modernized, predictable permitting process is like well-executed blocking. It doesn’t guarantee a touchdown, but it opens the lanes that make success possible.
Another key play in the Roadmap is reducing litigation risk and regulatory uncertainty. Legacy and coastal lawsuits function like a relentless defensive blitz. They drain investment, deter long-term planning, and frustrate economic growth. A 2025 Pelican economic impact study found that since 2009, Louisiana’s offshore reserves have declined 42 percent and production has dropped 56 percent—even as federal offshore output grew. Energy employment has fallen 37 percent, and since 2014 the state has lost $1.1 billion in wages and $70 million in foregone tax revenue.
The takeaway is simple: capital is leaving the state for lower-risk regions. It’s long past time for Louisiana to start backing energy jobs and investment instead of endless litigation.
The Roadmap also calls for sensible tax policy, stronger market competition, and expanded consumer choice in electric power. Each of these reforms is like giving a promising rookie the ball in open space—letting competition, not central planning, determine the best outcome.
Most importantly, this plan isn’t about picking winners and losers. It’s about creating a framework that amplifies Louisiana’s natural home-field advantage, so when new technologies and opportunities emerge, we’re ready to score again and again. Free markets, clear rules, and consumer choice are the offensive identity that will keep Louisiana competitive well beyond a single season.
So as we gather around the TV this Sunday—whether you’re rooting for the Patriots’ methodical march or the Seahawks’ explosive flair—let’s also rally behind a blueprint that keeps Louisiana moving the chains on energy dominance.
Because in football and in public policy, the best results come from strategy, execution, and the courage to make the bold call when it counts.
