HLS 15RS-3312 ORIGINAL
2015 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 167
BY REPRESENTATIVE GAROFALO
CONGRESS: Memorializes the U.S. Congress and the Louisiana Congressional delegation
to work towards equitable revenue sharing for Louisiana mineral and gas production
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2To memorialize the United States Congress and the Louisiana Congressional Delegation to
3 take such actions as are necessary to rectify the revenue sharing inequities between
4 coastal and interior energy producing states.
5 WHEREAS, since 1920, interior states have been allowed to keep fifty percent of the
6oil, gas, and coal production revenues generated in their states from mineral production on
7federal lands within their borders, including royalties, severance taxes, and bonuses; and
8 WHEREAS, coastal states with onshore and offshore oil and gas production face
9inequities under the federal energy policies because those coastal states have not been party
10to this same level of revenue sharing partnership with the federal government; and
11 WHEREAS, coastal energy producing states have a limited partnership with the
12federal government that provides for them to retain very little revenue generated from their
13offshore energy production, energy that is produced for use throughout the nation; and
14 WHEREAS, in 2006 congress passed the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act
15(GOMESA) that will fully go into effect in 2017; an act that calls for a sharing of thirty-
16seven and five tenths percent of coastal production revenues with four gulf states with a cap
17of $500 million per year; and
18 WHEREAS, the Fixing America's Inequities with Revenues (FAIR) Act would have
19addressed the inequity suffered by coastal oil and gas producing states by accelerating the
20implementation of GOMESA as well as by gradually lifting all revenue sharing caps but the
21legislation died with the close of the previous congress; and
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HCR NO. 167
1 WHEREAS, with the state and its offshore waters taken alone, Louisiana is the ninth
2largest producer of oil in the United States in 2014 while including offshore oil from federal
3waters, it was the second largest oil producer in the country; and when taken alone Louisiana
4was the fourth largest producer of gas in the United States in 2013 while including the Gulf
5of Mexico waters, it was the second largest producer in the United States; and
6 WHEREAS, with nineteen operating refineries in the state, Louisiana was second
7only to Texas as of January 2014 in both total and operating refinery capacity, accounting
8for nearly one-fifth of the nation's total refining capacity; and
9 WHEREAS, Louisiana's contributions to the United States Strategic Petroleum
10Reserve with two facilities located in the state consisting of twenty-nine caverns capable of
11holding nearly three hundred million barrels of crude oil; and
12 WHEREAS, with three onshore liquified natural gas facilities, more than any other
13state in the country, and the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the nation's only deepwater oil port,
14Louisiana plays an essential role in the movement of natural gas from the United States Gulf
15Coast region to markets throughout the country; and
16 WHEREAS, it is apparent that Louisiana plays an essential role in supplying the
17nation with energy and it is vital to the security of our nation's energy supply, roles that
18should be recognized and compensated at an appropriate revenue sharing level; and
19 WHEREAS, the majority of the oil and gas production from the Gulf of Mexico
20enters the United States through coastal Louisiana with all of the infrastructure necessary to
21receive and transport such production, infrastructure that has for many decades damaged the
22coastal areas of Louisiana, an impact that should be compensated through appropriate
23revenue sharing with the federal government; and
24 WHEREAS, because Louisiana is losing more coastal wetlands than any other state
25in the country, in 2006 the people of Louisiana overwhelmingly approved a constitutional
26amendment dedicating revenues received from Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas activity
27to the Coastal Protection and Restoration Fund for the purposes of coastal protection,
28including conservation, coastal restoration, hurricane protection, and infrastructure directly
29impacted by coastal wetland losses; and
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HCR NO. 167
1 WHEREAS, the state of Louisiana has developed a science-based "Comprehensive
2Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast" which identifies and prioritizes the most efficient and
3effective projects in order to meet the state's critical coastal protection and restoration needs;
4and
5 WHEREAS, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority is making great
6progress implementing the projects in the "Comprehensive Master Plan for a Sustainable
7Coast" with all available funding, projects that are essential to the protection of the
8infrastructure that is critical to the energy needs of the United States; and
9 WHEREAS, in order to properly compensate the coastal states for the infrastructure
10demands that result from production of energy and fuels that heat and cool the nation's
11homes, offices, and businesses and fuel the nation's transportation needs revenue sharing for
12coastal states needs to be at the same rate as interior states that produce oil, gas, and coal.
13 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
14memorialize the United States Congress to take such actions as are necessary to treat mineral
15and gas production in the Gulf Coastal states in a manner that is at least equal to onshore oil,
16gas, and coal production in interior states for revenue purposes; and to rectify the revenue
17sharing inequities between coastal and interior energy producing states in order to address
18the nationally significant crisis of wetland loss in the state of Louisiana.
19 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
20presiding officers of the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Congress of the
21United States of America and to each member of the Louisiana congressional delegation.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HCR 167 Original 2015 Regular Session Garofalo
Memorializes congress and the La. Congressional Delegation to take such actions as are
necessary to rectify the revenue sharing inequities between coastal and interior energy
producing states.
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