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