Inside the exxonmobil refinery of- fices he commandeered after Hurricane Katrina, where temporary telephone wires dangle from the ceiling alongside sticky yellow flytraps dotted with dead flies and mosquitoes, Henry (Junior) Rodriguez is deliberating on the future of devastated St. Bernard Parish, east of New Orleans. As he downs a bag of chocolates that constitutes dinner, his considerable paunch on display, the parish president rehearses his upcoming appeal to Congress: with no taxpayers and no businesses, St. Bernard has money for just one month's payroll. Rodriguez wants help from Washington—or else. "Do people realize we produce 30% of the nations gas and crude down here? Maybe 111 shut down the only refinery in the nation that processes Venezuelan oil," he says.
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