Y
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2003
- Messages
- 3,103
- Reaction score
- 2
Gulf States Hit Pay Dirt Offshore
Bill Lets Them Share Drilling Royalties -- and Atone for an Old Miscue
By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 12, 2006; D01
Back in June, former Louisiana senator John Breaux warned Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) not to get greedy in lobbying to get their state a big chunk of oil and gas royalties from federal waters.
"Harry Truman offered us almost half, and we ended up with nothing," he said.
Breaux was recalling that in 1949, Gov. Earl Long was so determined to get all of the oil and gas royalties from drilling off his state's shores that he turned down an offer from Truman that would have put a portion of that revenue into Louisiana's coffers. Louisiana ended up with nothing, and since then the Treasury has collected $160 billion from offshore oil and gas production all over the United States.
The last bill passed by the 109th Congress, early Saturday morning, ended up giving Louisiana, Texas, Alabama and Mississippi a good bit of what was turned down half a century ago.
The legislation opens about 8 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling, and U.S. industrial consumers of natural gas hope it will boost supplies and moderate prices.
But the bill's landmark aspect was a deal that diverts 37.5 percent of federal royalties from future drilling to the four Gulf of Mexico states -- the same percentage Truman offered Long. The accord could ultimately be worth $650 million a year for Louisiana, the biggest beneficiary.
"This was the best Christmas present I could ever, ever have gotten or that the state of Louisiana could have gotten," Landrieu said in an interview yesterday.
Foes of the legislation fear it will lure states opposed to offshore drilling such as California, Virginia, Florida and North and South Carolina into supporting exploration off their shorelines in return for a gusher of new revenue. "A lot of folks don't want the revenue sharing because they're afraid that people won't be as opposed" to offshore drilling, Breaux said in June.
Gulf States Hit Pay Dirt Offshore - washingtonpost.com
Bill Lets Them Share Drilling Royalties -- and Atone for an Old Miscue
By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 12, 2006; D01
Back in June, former Louisiana senator John Breaux warned Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) not to get greedy in lobbying to get their state a big chunk of oil and gas royalties from federal waters.
"Harry Truman offered us almost half, and we ended up with nothing," he said.
Breaux was recalling that in 1949, Gov. Earl Long was so determined to get all of the oil and gas royalties from drilling off his state's shores that he turned down an offer from Truman that would have put a portion of that revenue into Louisiana's coffers. Louisiana ended up with nothing, and since then the Treasury has collected $160 billion from offshore oil and gas production all over the United States.
The last bill passed by the 109th Congress, early Saturday morning, ended up giving Louisiana, Texas, Alabama and Mississippi a good bit of what was turned down half a century ago.
The legislation opens about 8 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling, and U.S. industrial consumers of natural gas hope it will boost supplies and moderate prices.
But the bill's landmark aspect was a deal that diverts 37.5 percent of federal royalties from future drilling to the four Gulf of Mexico states -- the same percentage Truman offered Long. The accord could ultimately be worth $650 million a year for Louisiana, the biggest beneficiary.
"This was the best Christmas present I could ever, ever have gotten or that the state of Louisiana could have gotten," Landrieu said in an interview yesterday.
Foes of the legislation fear it will lure states opposed to offshore drilling such as California, Virginia, Florida and North and South Carolina into supporting exploration off their shorelines in return for a gusher of new revenue. "A lot of folks don't want the revenue sharing because they're afraid that people won't be as opposed" to offshore drilling, Breaux said in June.
Gulf States Hit Pay Dirt Offshore - washingtonpost.com