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Audit released by Louisiana Legislative says that Office of Conservation to need to improve monitoring over LORA
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BATON ROUGE - The state legislative auditor says that more oversight must be done for the Louisiana Oilfield Restoration Association, or LORA, into its orphan well program.
The program was supervised by the Office of Conservation and Johnny Adams, the husband of Metro Councilmember Laurie Adams.
This month, the WBRZ Investigative Unit uncovered a malfeasance investigation into Johnny Adams. The East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office is investigating whether LORA provided funds to Johnny Adams to purchase his $780,000 home on Oakbrook Drive. Documents show that the sheriff's office got involved after the state auditor's office reached out for help. After learning about the probe from the WBRZ Investigative Unit, the state suspended Johnny Adams with pay.
On Monday, two reports came from the state legislative auditor's office: one addressing issues identified in previous audits and the other calling for a revamped oversight of LORA. The audits dealt mainly with the orphan well program but also touched on how its finances are supervised.
Gina Brown from the legislative auditor's office says that more needs to be done when monitoring the company. Brown said it was the Office of Conservation's responsibility to provide the needed supervision. Brown told WBRZ that the Office of Conservation did not include provisions in the cooperative endeavor agreement to help make sure that LORA operates in the state's best interest.
"LORA does make up such a large portion of the financial security in the state. Don't they have a contingency plan if LORA goes bankrupt if LORA ceases to exist," Brown said.
The auditor says that while LORA was created in 2019, the audit shows a significant increase in abandoned oil wells over the last few years.
"There are over 4,000 of them and they can be a hazard, environment hazard, a safety hazard, to the citizens of the state and to the state itself," Brown said.
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