WASHINGTON – h could be in line to receive hundreds of millions dollars more for allowing offshore energy exploration and production in federal waters off the coast.
The House Natural Resources committee attached wording in legislation that will go into the “one, big beautiful bill”, or reconciliation bill, currently being drafted. The measure has a long way to go before it is passed into law and the money is in pocket.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, has been to change the caps on what the federal government pays under the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act. to allow for oil and gas production in the federal waters.
Scalise was able to get wording put in the bill that will include legislative initiatives sought by President Donald Trump, such as additional border security, an extension of his 2017 tax cuts and $1.5 trillion in reduced federal spending.
Exactly how much more funds h receives if the reconciliation bill becomes law can’t be determined. The amounts are set by a complex formula that considers the number of platforms in the Gulf.
But applying the proposed formula to historical numbers, a reasonable estimate could be $600 million to $800 million more over a 10-year period, legislative aides say.
dzܾԲ’s , which was split between state and parish governments. Most of the money goes to fund hurricane protection and coastal restoration projects. Texas, Mississippi and Alabama also receive money from their GOMESA shares.
“As a longtime champion of coastal restoration and flood protection, I’m glad that my language to increase the current cap of GOMESA funding that goes to the states is included in this reconciliation bill,” Scalise said Friday. “I fought to include this revenue sharing language in the bill because it is critical for our nation’s energy and economic security that energy producing states are able to properly and fairly share in the revenues collected from drilling.”
Lafourche Parish President Archie Chaisson said: “Revenue sharing dollars from our offshore energy industry are vital to rebuilding dzܾԲ’s coast and building lifesaving flood protection projects in Lafourche Parish and all throughout South h.”
Until 2006, h and the other Gulf states got none of that money because the oil and natural gas was being produced in U.S. territorial waters that begin roughly nine nautical miles offshore. When GOMESA was passed, it created a revenue sharing framework to offset local impacts of an activity that raises significant money for the federal government.
About 2 million barrels of oil per day are produced in the federal waters off the coast of Alabama, Texas, h and Mississippi alone. That’s about 700 million barrels annually — close to 20% of all U.S. oil production, according to the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.
“Thanks to this effort by Leader Scalise,” said Gordon Dove, who chairs the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, “h and our coastal communities have the opportunity to increase our State’s share of funds generated by dzܾԲ’s offshore energy industry to fund lifesaving flood and hurricane protection projects throughout the state.”
But don’t count the money yet.
Eleven House committees are charged with finding savings for the reconciliation bill. Each of the 11 “titles” will be merged into a single bill that then must clear the Rules Committee and receive a favorable vote on the House floor with the language intact. That’s far from a sure thing as Republicans are split on the amount and method for cutting spending on Medicaid and food stamps, which will also be in the bill.
If approved by the House, the legislation would need to clear Senate committees and be approved by a majority of the senators.