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ABP Responds To Times Picayune Editorial Keith Darce's column should be framed and presented to the CEOs of the two multibillion-dollar corporations financing the push against pilots. They themselves couldn't have written a more biased column. As the story reported, the Louisiana Public Service Commission subpoenaed Conoco and Citgo to provide pilot fees they pay at other ports. They initially agreed but are now in court to stop the request, claiming it should not matter what they pay at other ports. After years of arguing that pilot income here is out of line in comparison to similar ports, they now refuse to provide proof. That's because the issue has never been about pilot pay. It's not about dollars. These companies are embarrassingly rich. It is about their arrogance and their scramble for unchecked control over the flow of commerce on Louisiana's waterways. Journalism 101 teaches objectivity and fairness, but Darce seems to be little more than a mouthpiece for these Texas- and Venezuelan-based companies using foreign vessels and crews to transport products in the most strategically positioned, yet treacherous, river in America. Our industry is filled with good news. There's the soaring cruise industry, the largest tanker ever to enter the river, recovering steel imports and the fact that four of five Louisiana ports rank among America's top 10. All these parts of the industry are professionally served by state pilots. Yet, Darce seems obsessed with being another of Conoco's and Citgo's spinmeisters. Michael R. Lorino Jr.
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