WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. followed up to his Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing questions last week, asking U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today why other states will have more control over offshore revenue sales under the President’s Draft Proposed Program, while Gulf Coast states would have no say in revenue that is promised under the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA) of 2006.
Secretary Jewell testified on the president’s proposed budget in the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies hearing.
Watch his remarks HERE and read excerpts below.
The last time we spoke, my concern was that the budget chooses to try and take dollars from the Gulf Coast states that produce, and your reply was that it is federal resources and goes beyond the control of the state…
That said, I’m told recently you stated states in the Atlantic will have a chance to pull themselves out of the running for possible federal approval of offshore drilling.
In that case, you’re giving the states control over access to the OCS. While stating Gulf Coast states should not share in what is considered a federally controlled interest in the Gulf OCS. How can you in a sense reconcile the two?
…You say the state can effectively control access to the revenue in the outer continental shelf, but in the case of the Gulf Coast states, you do not have control of this revenue. Because denying access to drilling in the OCS off these states is effectively denying access to the revenue.
… I do think your answer supports my contention that the state is the one which should have the role. You’ve established a precedent in allowing them to deny the federal taxpayers of the revenue derived thereof.
…That seems to be the inconsistency.
###