2022 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 12
BY SENATORS HEWITT, ALLAIN, CLOUD, CONNICK, FESI, HENSGENS,
LAMBERT, MCMATH, MILLIGAN, FRED MILLS, ROBERT MILLS,
MIZELL, PEACOCK, STINE, TALBOT, TARVER AND WOMACK
AND REPRESENTATIVES AMEDEE, BACALA, BEAULLIEU,
BOURRIAQUE, BUTLER, CARRIER, COUSSAN, DESHOTEL,
DEVILLIER, DUBUISSON, EDMONDS, EDMONSTON, EMERSON,
FARNUM, FIRMENT, FISHER, FREIBERG, GAROFALO, HARRIS,
KERNER, MCCORMICK, MCKNIGHT, MCMAHEN, MIGUEZ,
MINCEY, ORGERON, CHARLES OWEN, RISER, ROMERO,
SCHAMERHORN, THOMPSON, W HEAT AND ZERINGUE
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To urge and request the President of the United States and the Congress of the United States
to take any action necessary to halt federal actions resulting in the delay or
cancellation of offshore oil and natural gas lease sales and the United States
Department of Interior to expedite actions necessary to comply with a court order to
resolve lease sales, finalize a new five-year plan for oil and gas leasing on the Outer
Continental Shelf, and focus efforts on lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico.
WHEREAS, the Gulf of Mexico produces approximately seventeen percent of the
United States crude oil and five percent of United States natural gas while contributing five
to eight billion dollars to the federal treasury each year and sending hundreds of millions of
dollars to coastal states for coastal restoration and hurricane protection projects; and
WHEREAS, the oil and gas industry directly supports two hundred forty-nine
thousand eight hundred jobs in Louisiana; and
WHEREAS, the oil and gas industry activities represent twenty-six percent of
Louisiana's gross domestic product, accounting for nearly four billion five hundred million
dollars in state and local tax revenue in 2019 alone, representing fourteen and one-half
percent of total state taxes, licenses, and fees collected; and
WHEREAS, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which regulates
offshore lease sales, the Gulf continues to be the nation's primary offshore source of oil and
gas, generating about ninety-seven percent of all United States Outer Continental Shelf oil
and gas production and since 2017, Gulf of Mexico lease sales have generated more than one
trillion dollars from offshore leasing; and
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WHEREAS, since 1953, the United States Secretary of the Interior has been required
by law to prepare a five-year plan to set a schedule for oil and gas leases in United States
offshore waters based on a lengthy, multi-year regulatory process with multiple stages for
public comment, input, and consultation; and
WHEREAS, the Obama administration issued a five-year-plan for oil and gas leasing
that expires on July 1, 2022, which includes two remaining lease sales for the Gulf of
Mexico, Lease Sale 259 and Lease Sale 261; and
WHEREAS, the United States Department of Interior missed the deadline to issue
a notice of sale for Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 259 in order to meet the expiration of the
current five-year plan; and
WHEREAS, on January 27, 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 14008,
"Tackling the Climate Crisis" declaring a pause on leasing on federal lands and waters,
including the Outer Continental Shelf of the Gulf of Mexico; and
WHEREAS, the United States District Court issued a preliminary injunction on the
leasing pause and ordered federal oil and gas lease sales to proceed on June 15, 2021; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Interior held Lease Sale 257 on November 17, 2021;
however, on January 27, 2022, a ruling by the United States District Court for the District
of Columbia invalidated the sale and required the Department of Interior to reassess the
environmental impacts of Lease Sale 257; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Interior is not appealing the court ruling and
therefore there is no indication that leases will be awarded to the offshore companies from
Lease Sale 257; and
WHEREAS, there is no indication that the federal government will hold another Gulf
of Mexico offshore lease sale for the duration of the Biden administration's term and there
is no indication that the Department of Interior is working on the next five-year plan; and
WHEREAS, according to the most recent federal data, although U.S. crude output
fell slightly with a drop of nearly thirteen and one-half percent in offshore Gulf of Mexico
production from December 2019 through December 2021, the demand for oil climbed nine
and four-fifth percent from a year earlier; and
WHEREAS, oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico is the only reliable source
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of funding for Louisiana's coastal programs such as the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act
that allows the Gulf states to share in offshore revenue generated from offshore oil activity
including bonus bid revenue; and
WHEREAS, over the past five years Louisiana approximately has received between
one hundred sixty million dollars and four hundred seven million dollars from bonus bids
alone; and
WHEREAS, it is estimated that in 2021 the state of Louisiana lost approximately
twenty to forty million dollars due to the cancelled lease sales and lost bonus bid revenue;
and
WHEREAS, Louisiana depends on Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act revenues
to fund a fifty billion dollar coastal restoration plan; and
WHEREAS, delaying or cancelling Gulf of Mexico leasing negatively impacts
federal and state revenue, as well as Louisiana businesses and jobs; and
WHEREAS, drilling contractors will see impacts, dropping as many as twenty-five
percent of the remaining Gulf of Mexico rigs over the next several years, in addition to the
network of staff, supply boats, and other vendors that support and maintain drillships that
equates to roughly one thousand jobs per rig; and
WHEREAS, the Gulf of Mexico is the safest and cleanest oil produced anywhere in
the world; and
WHEREAS, halting domestic energy development in one of the lowest carbon
intensive energy producing regions in the world to shift production and capital investment
overseas undermines decades of environmental progress; and
WHEREAS, a 2016 Obama administration study conducted by Bureau of Ocean
Energy Management concluded that America's greenhouse gas emissions will be little
affected by leasing decisions on the bureau's offshore leasing program and could in fact
result in an increase of greenhouse gas emissions in the absence of new Outer Continental
Shelf leasing due to an increase in importing foreign oil; and
WHEREAS, the Biden administration is pursuing a policy which places the United
States at the mercy of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia to meet
domestic needs and harming national and economic security.
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THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
urge and request the President of the United States and Congress of the United States to take
any action necessary to halt federal actions resulting in the delay or cancellation of offshore
oil and natural gas lease sales.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby urge
and request the United States Department of Interior to expedite any actions necessary to
comply with United States District Court for the District of Columbia order to resolve Lease
Sale 257, finalize a new five-year plan for oil and gas leasing on the outer continental shelf,
and focus all efforts on mandated lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
President of the United States, the United States Secretary of the Interior, the United States
Secretary of Energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the White House National
Climate Advisor, the clerk of the United States House of Representatives, the secretary of
the United States Senate, and to each member of the Louisiana delegation of the United
States Congress.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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