Sen. Landrieu’s FAIR Act Seeks To Lift Cap On Offshore Oil & Gas Revenues To Gulf Coast States

U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu is reintroducing legislation in an effort to lift the arbitrary cap of $500 million that was placed on the Gulf Coast states in a revenue sharing bill passed a few years ago.

Landrieu says she is putting forth the Fixing America's Inequities with Revenue (FAIR) Act because Louisiana and its Gulf Coast neighbors been treated unfairly in past years because of this cap:

The interior states have no cap and it's not fair for us to have to operate under one if they don't have one. So we want to lift our cap, which would allow Louisiana over time to actually gather revenue stream of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Another problem Landrieu has with the previously passed revenue sharing bill: it doesn't kick in until 2017. She says her FAIR Act would let the state begin sharing in 37 and a half percent of offshore oil and gas production royalties immediately upon enactment, in addition to the lifting the $500 million cap on Louisiana on royalties paid:

We cannot save the Coast on nickels and dimes and we can't save it on Appropriation bills that have money one year and no money the next.

The same bill failed last year, but Landrieu expects better results this time:

I think we can build strong bipartisan support from the industry, from the environmental community as the bill moves through the process. I believe we're gonna have support from Republicans and Democrats as we move forward. And, it's with the blessing of the Democratic Chair of the Committee. So, I think we're off to a good, solid start.