WASHINGTON - The House approved a measure Thursday that would, beginning in 2023, increase the cap on federal offshore revenue sharing for Gulf states from $500 million a year to $1 billion. The vote was 238-185. Louisiana and other Gulf producing states are slated to begin receiving 37.5 percent of offshore royalty payments in 2017, under legislation passed in...
WASHINGTON - The House approved a measure Thursday that would, beginning in 2023, increase the cap on federal offshore revenue sharing for Gulf states from $500 million a year to $1 billion. The vote was 238-185.
Louisiana and other Gulf producing states are slated to begin receiving 37.5 percent of offshore royalty payments in 2017, under legislation passed in 2006. But the cap is $500 million a year.
The amendment, to eventually double the cap, was offered by Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge. Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, offered a similar amendment, but the GOP leadership allowed a vote only on the Cassidy amendment.
Cassidy is a candidate in the 2014 Senate race against Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. Landrieu, who sponsored the 2006 law creating offshore revenue stream for producing states, has introduced Senate legislation to speed up and increase revenue sharing.
Cassidy said his amendment is a big victory for Louisiana. "Our state and nation rely on our oil and gas, our strong ports and the economic activity that happens on our coast," Cassidy said. "This amendment will preserve those assets by providing more money for coastal restoration."
The amendment was added to a bill creating a framework for U.S. offshore drilling companies and Mexico's Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, to jointly develop oil in the Gulf of Mexico, outside both nations' economic zone waters.