Parish President Billy Nugesser speaks to the PABI membership.

Parish President Billy Nungesser was the guest speaker at the Plaquemines Association of Business and Industry luncheon last week.

He detailed his vision for the next four years of his presidency to the business organization.

“I’d love to be standing here four years from now and tell you we’re number 1 in green energy,” said Nungesser, and he sees BP helping to achieve that.

Nungesser suggested that the green energy branch of BP, BP Solar, should build a facility in Plaquemines Parish that produces solar panels. BP should train residents and even give some panels to fishermen so that when the decreased energy bill arrives in the mail, fishermen and their families will be thanking BP instead of cursing them.

As far as the current BP situation, Nungesser was not optimistic.

“They (BP) want this to be over,” Nungesser said. “After hurricane season, I truely believe they’re going to be gone.”
Within the parish government, Nungesser said that the parish must create and stick to a budget, where projects are prioritized and the council “just doesn’t dole out money because they have five votes.”

The work force can be restructured to be more efficient without layoffs: “Through retirement and other things, we can get the best service for your dollar.”

Nungesser indicated that the Master Plan is a way to see to the prioritization through.

Overall, fiscal changes is the key, Nungesser said.

“We need to tighten our belt,” he said. “We need to put some money away for a rainy day.”