| 1 | 1 | | 84R13831 BPG-D |
|---|
| 2 | 2 | | By: Clardy H.C.R. No. 91 |
|---|
| 3 | 3 | | |
|---|
| 4 | 4 | | |
|---|
| 5 | 5 | | CONCURRENT RESOLUTION |
|---|
| 6 | 6 | | WHEREAS, A provision in President Barack Obama's 2016 federal |
|---|
| 7 | 7 | | budget would deprive Texas and three other Gulf Coast states of |
|---|
| 8 | 8 | | hundreds of millions of dollars by redirecting funds owed them |
|---|
| 9 | 9 | | under the 2006 Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act; and |
|---|
| 10 | 10 | | WHEREAS, The legislation known as GOMESA requires the federal |
|---|
| 11 | 11 | | government to share with Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama |
|---|
| 12 | 12 | | 37.5 percent of the revenue it collects from offshore oil and gas |
|---|
| 13 | 13 | | rigs in the Gulf; in 2013, these rigs produced 17 percent of the |
|---|
| 14 | 14 | | nation's 2.7 billion barrels of crude oil; and |
|---|
| 15 | 15 | | WHEREAS, To date, only about $34 million has been distributed |
|---|
| 16 | 16 | | under GOMESA, mostly generated by drilling in the eastern Gulf; |
|---|
| 17 | 17 | | revenue will increase substantially in a few years as the law begins |
|---|
| 18 | 18 | | to cover the far more productive central Gulf, and the White House |
|---|
| 19 | 19 | | estimates the value of GOMESA revenue at $367 million for 2018; and |
|---|
| 20 | 20 | | WHEREAS, The GOMESA funds are intended to compensate the |
|---|
| 21 | 21 | | states for the environmental impact of offshore drilling, but the |
|---|
| 22 | 22 | | president's budget would reallocate payments to a broad range of |
|---|
| 23 | 23 | | programs around the country; such a redirection of funds would be |
|---|
| 24 | 24 | | particularly inappropriate, given that inland states may keep half |
|---|
| 25 | 25 | | of energy revenue produced on federal property, while the states |
|---|
| 26 | 26 | | covered by GOMESA are receiving a little more than a third of |
|---|
| 27 | 27 | | offshore drilling revenue that affects their coastlines; and |
|---|
| 28 | 28 | | WHEREAS, The Gulf Coast states and neighboring offshore |
|---|
| 29 | 29 | | waters have produced hundreds of billions of barrels of oil and tens |
|---|
| 30 | 30 | | of trillions of cubic feet of natural gas over the past few decades, |
|---|
| 31 | 31 | | but there are environmental costs associated with offshore |
|---|
| 32 | 32 | | drilling; bipartisan legislation was passed to allow Texas and the |
|---|
| 33 | 33 | | other states to develop appropriate programs concerning natural |
|---|
| 34 | 34 | | resources along the Gulf shoreline, such as coastal restoration, |
|---|
| 35 | 35 | | and the redistribution of offshore drilling revenue promised under |
|---|
| 36 | 36 | | GOMESA would subvert the intention of Congress; now, therefore, be |
|---|
| 37 | 37 | | it |
|---|
| 38 | 38 | | RESOLVED, That the 84th Legislature of the State of Texas |
|---|
| 39 | 39 | | hereby respectfully urge the president of the United States to |
|---|
| 40 | 40 | | abandon the budget proposal redirecting offshore drilling revenue |
|---|
| 41 | 41 | | due to Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi under the Gulf of |
|---|
| 42 | 42 | | Mexico Energy Security Act; and, be it further |
|---|
| 43 | 43 | | RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
|---|
| 44 | 44 | | copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to |
|---|
| 45 | 45 | | the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of |
|---|
| 46 | 46 | | Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all members |
|---|
| 47 | 47 | | of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that this |
|---|
| 48 | 48 | | resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to |
|---|
| 49 | 49 | | the Congress of the United States of America. |
|---|