Should Louisiana be a 'sanctuary state' for oil and gas? This bill would make it so Tristan Baurick A state lawmaker wants to make Louisiana a "fossil fuel sanctuary state," quixotically asserting special sovereignty to nullify any federal law, regulation or tax that in any way harms the oil and gas industry. Rep. Danny McCormick, a Republican from Oil City, a town of about 1,000 residents in northwest Louisiana, says his House Bill 617 is a "preemptive effort" to protect the industry from the future policies of President Joe Biden's administration. "What he'll do, I can't answer yet," McCormick said Wednesday, shortly after the bill was introduced in the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee. "There may be no limit to his attacks on the fossil fuel industry."