[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 35 (Monday, September 8, 2008)]
[Pages 1173-1174]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following a Briefing at the Emergency Operations Center in Baton 
Rouge, Louisiana

September 3, 2008

    I'm going to make a quick statement, then I want to come around and 
say thank you in person to you.
    First of all, Governor, thanks for having me down here. Phase one of 
the response to Gustav went very well. A lot of it had to do with the 
people in this room. We're much better coordinated this time than we 
were with Katrina. The State government, the local government, and the 
Federal Government were able to work effectively together.
    There is still more work to be done. One of the key things that 
needs to happen is they got to get electricity up here in Louisiana, get 
moving as fast as possible. The Governor understands it's a problem, his 
team understands it's a problem, and I understand it's a problem.
    There's a lot of folks from this State that are working hard to 
restring the lines. There are people from out of State coming into 
Louisiana to help as well, and of course, all the citizens of this State 
want to thank the people from other States that are moving in here to 
help get the electricity up as soon as possible. And I would ask that if 
utilities in neighboring States have extra manpower, please coordinate 
with the State and send the folks in. Part of this recovery is going to 
require the electricity coming back as quickly as possible.

[[Page 1174]]

    We talked about the need to make sure that in parts of Louisiana 
that are getting flooded now--rural Louisiana--that MREs and water and 
ice get delivered to those communities as quickly as possible.
    As a Governor of a neighboring State, I remember often how people 
would say, ``All they care about is the big cities.'' And I understand 
there's a lot of focus on New Orleans, and there should be focus on New 
Orleans. But in the briefings today, it is clear that this State is 
focused as well as on people who live in rural Louisiana and in the 
smaller towns of Louisiana. And so the efforts will be aimed at helping 
people there.
    Bobby talked about the need for--to release energy or oil from the 
Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Last night we got a request from a company 
doing business here in Louisiana, and we met that request. And if--so 
oil was released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. And we will 
continue to do that upon requests by companies.
    All in all, the response has been excellent, but the people here 
understand that there is more work to be done. And that's why I came 
down here with members of the Federal Government to listen and to figure 
out how to help.
    I can't thank you all enough for working as hard as you are. Looking 
around, I can see that some people may not have had much sleep recently. 
[Laughter] The people of your State care a lot about the fact that you 
are working as hard as you are. And if this helps you keep going, I want 
to thank you, and I want to thank all the volunteers and the faith-based 
community that always rises up in a challenge like this. They listen to 
that universal call to love a neighbor like you'd like to be loved 
yourself. And that's happening here in Louisiana again. And I know the 
people that are--whose lives have been affected appreciate a total 
stranger coming in to help.
    And finally, the people in Louisiana must know that all across our 
country there's a lot of prayer, prayer for those whose lives have been 
turned upside down. And I'm one of them. It's good to come down here. 
Governor, I can't thank you enough for your leadership and your team's 
leadership, and we stand ready to help.
    And now I'm going to come around and thank every one of you for 
working. God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 12:08 p.m. In his remarks, he referred to 
Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. The Office of the Press Secretary also 
released a Spanish language transcript of these remarks.