William Harold "Billy" Nungesser (born 1959) is the President of Plaquemines Parish in suburban New Orleans, Louisiana. A Republican, Nungesser was re-elected in the 2010 general election, defeating two other candidates with more than 71% of the vote.[1] His second term began on January 1, 2011.[2] He made countless media appearances in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, including almost nightly guest appearances on CNN alongside Anderson Cooper.[3] Nungesser was recognized as the Face of the Oil Spill by major media outlets such as the Times Picayune,[4] New York Times,[5] Associated Press,[6] CNN,[7] Reuters,[8] and ABC News.[9]
Plaquemines Parish consists of the final stretch of the Mississippi River before it connects with the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Katrina first made landfall in the southern end of Plaquemines, in the town of Empire, Louisiana.
His father, William "Billy" Nungesser, was also a prominent figure in Louisiana politics, serving as Chief of Staff during David C. Treen's term as governor and later as the state chairman of the Louisiana Republican Party.
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While working in the offshore catering business, Nungesser found an alternative use for metal ship containers. In 1991, he established General Marine Leasing Company. The first of its kind business modified and outfitted containers as improved, portable living quarters for offshore workers. The company was successful, growing to employ 200 people and reaching $20 million in sales. In 2004, he was the chairman for the Plaquemines Parish United Way. In 2004 and 2005, he worked with key local business leaders to form the Plaquemines Association of Business and Industry or PABI, separate from the statewide Louisiana Association of Business and Industry. He served on the PABI board during the first years.
In 1983, Governor Treen appointed Nungesser to the Lake Pontchartrain and Maurepaus Study Commission. In 1985, Nungesser served on the Orleans Levee Board.
In 2006, Nungesser narrowly won the position of parish president by defeating the Democrat Amos Cormier, Jr. Nungesser polled 4,096 votes (51.1 percent) to Cormier's 3,920 ballots (48.9 percent).[10] The incumbent parish president, Democrat Benny Rousselle, also a former state representative, was term-limited.
In February 2009, Governor Bobby Jindal appointed Nungesser to the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. The CPRA consists of twenty members who develop a master plan on coastal protection for the state.
In 2010, Nungesser won re-election to parish president in a landslide, having defeated former parish presidents Amos Cormier and Benny Rousselle. Nungesser polled 5,632 votes (71 percent) to Cormier's 1,772 (22 percent) and Rousselle's 499 (6 percent).[1]
In 2011, Nungesser waged a determined but unsuccessful race to unseat Lieutenant Governor Jay Dardenne, a fellow Republican from Baton Rouge, who had been initially elected for a one-year unexpired term in 2010. Darden received 504,228 votes (53.1 percent) to Nungesser's 444,750 (46.9 percent). Nungesser defeated Dardenne in seventeen parishes, all in south Louisiana, including Orleans, Iberia, Jefferson, Lafayette, and St. Bernard, as well as his own Plaquemines Parish.[11]
Much of his work in the first two years has been on hurricane recovery. The eye of Katrina passed over Buras-Triumph, and now the town of Buras has a new water tower. The old tower was knocked to the ground during the hurricane.[12] The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) originally obligated $400,000 to rebuild the Port Eads Marina after Katrina. President Nungesser personally went to Washington, D.C., and appealed the amount. FEMA then authorized $12 million for the project.[13] He was heavily involved in the response to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Before Hurricane Gustav made landfall, President Nungesser took a proactive approach to protect the parish. He flew in a helicopter counting the number of vessels and barges that potentially would be a safety issue to people, property, and the levee system during a hurricane. His team called the owners of about 150 vessels and told them to move the vessels or the parish would sink them. 70 of the 150 were sunk, some by the parish, some by the owners. There's no way to measure how much damage was prevented by this act, it's believed to have been beneficial and the same actions may be taken in future storms.[14]
Hurricane Ike passed hundreds of miles south of Plaquemines, but its tide surge did affect the parish. The water began rising against the levees on the east bank of Plaquemines near the Caernarvon freshwater diversion in Braithwaite. The structure allows fresh water from the Mississippi River to flow into the marsh on the east side of the river. Parish officials noticed the water in the river was not rising at the same rate. After consulting the Army Corps, they made the quick decision to open the floodgates, letting the rising water flow into the Mississippi, relieving pressure on the levees.[15]
Nungesser began his second term with a public cry for help in removing oil from eroded land at Bay Jimmy.[16] On June 20, 2011, Nungesser announced that he will run for Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana, challenging a fellow Republican, incumbent Jay Dardenne of Baton Rouge.[17]
Nungesser has a long term plan to protect residents, business and the parish from future storms. Nungesser collaborated with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg to create Plaquemines Restoration and Protection Plan which was released in 2009. The plan uses multiple lines of defense along with the levee system to protect the parish from future tropical systems. "If Plaquemines Parish is going to get better hurricane protection, then it’s going to need more than levees," Nungesser told the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate.[18]