Senate Energy Committee is expected to vote on the issue today
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., says she is optimistic about winning a majority vote Thursday when she asks the Senate Energy Committee to amend an oil and gas regulatory bill to speed increased royalty payments for Louisiana and other producing states.
View full sizeThis oil rig and supply vessel were photographed in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana on April 10. A 2006 bill co-sponsored by Landrieu gave Louisiana and other Gulf States 37.5 percent of royalty payments for drilling off their coasts, but it doesn't take effect until 2017. Landrieu's amendment would accelerate the timeline, though details haven't been released.
To draw more political support, Landrieu is including language that would allow states without oil and gas activity to share revenues generated from new renewable energy sources, such as wind farms.
Her amendment could be considered when the Senate Energy Committee takes up a bill that codifies regulations for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regulation and Enforcement, which took over offshore oil and gas regulations after the BP spill last year.
Landrieu aides cautioned, however, that negotiations were continuing Wednesday night and that there was still a chance the revenue sharing vote could be pushed back.
The future of the Gulf Coast, meanwhile, was the focus Wednesday at the Senate Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard.
R. Eugene Turner, distinguished research master at Louisiana State University's department of oceanography and coastal sciences, told a Senate subcommittee hearing Wednesday that the impact of the BP spill continues to be felt off Louisiana's coast.
"The oil has not gone away," Turner told the panel. "You go out onto the marshes and smell it."
Turner warned that a new levee system planned for Louisiana's coast, the largely unfunded Morganza-to-the-Gulf hurricane protection system, would destroy more wetlands just as a state and federal commitment to a major ecosystem restoration is moving forward.
"The construction of these levees would, essentially, wall off the coast, and cause more wetlands loss," Turner said. "People are being polite about it, but make no mistake: Wetland restoration will be compromised if these levees are built."
Garret Graves, director of the Louisiana Office of Coastal Activities, said the Army Corps of Engineers is on its third evaluation of the Morganza-to-the-Gulf project and "all have drawn the same conclusion: The alignment makes sense." He also said the state has impaneled a group of scientists and experts from academia and the private sector to consider the possible impacts cited by Turner. It reached the same conclusion that "the project should proceed," Graves said.
Sen. David Vitter, R-La., also disagreed with Turner's assessment.
"Morganza will continue to be a top priority in South Louisiana because it will protect a lot of communities and -- most important -- a lot of people," Vitter said. "We can build Morganza and simultaneously work to complete coastal restoration projects, many of which have been identified for years. If we don't get Morganza completed, a catastrophic hurricane could destroy a vital part of the little energy industry left in America."
Turner also warned that current increases in sea level, combined with the anticipated rise from climate change, "puts major Gulf cities like New Orleans and Houston at risk."
"When hurricanes are added to this mix, then the long-term human occupation of the Mississippi delta and coastal shorelines of all Gulf states becomes problematic."
He questioned the decision of Louisiana officials to oppose the Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to regulate greenhouse emissions.
"While Louisiana is not the only state to oppose the EPA's endangerment finding on greenhouse gases, it is the only one asking for an estimated $60 (billion) to $100 billion in federal funds to restore and protect its coast," Turner said.
Bruce Alpert can be reached at balpert@timespicayune.com or 202.857.5131.