Congressman Steve Scalise leaned over the railing of the Chevron Corp. oil rig floating in inky blue waters 250 miles off the Louisiana coast, and marveled to a cluster of lawmakers that it produces 75,000 barrels of crude every day. Scalise is one of the oil industry’s busiest tour guides in Congress. Eight times, he’s lured colleagues onto helicopters bound for remote platforms and production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico. His motive: to persuade even Democrats to overturn Obama administration rules that will add costs to offshore drilling. “Some bureaucrat in Washington that’s never drilled before comes up with this standard and says ‘This is how you drill every well in the Gulf,’” Scalise told his colleagues. “It makes absolutely no sense.” For oil and gas companies plumbing Gulf waters, Scalise is an evangelist of growing importance. First appointed in 2008 to finish the term of Bobby Jindal, […]