This article is the major argument for keeping Louisiana dependent on oil. The money we get from off shore oil revenues. Louisiana is getting $110 Million that must be spent on coastal restoration and hurricane protection.
Louisiana state government and 19 coastal parishes will receive almost $110 million in the current federal fiscal year to spend on coastal restoration and hurricane protection, the Interior Department announced Tuesday in disbursing money from oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico. Energy revenue from federal waters in the Gulf is shared with Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama each year under the federal Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, or GOMESA. Florida gets nothing because no drilling occurs in federal waters off that state’s borders. The money distributed for fiscal 2020 totals $248.9 million, a reduction of $104.1 million, or 29.5%, from 2019. The reduction is tied largely to the drop in demand for oil and gas as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Louisiana’s 2020 share is $45.8 million less than the previous year.
nola.com
Senator Cassidy used this announcement to castigate the Biden Administration on their anti-oil stance. Yet, in legislation Cassidy wants, he recognizes renewables.
Cassidy said he plans to introduce legislation to increase the share of federal offshore energy revenue going to coastal states, and to create a similar revenue-sharing program for wind energy produced in the Gulf. “This is a welcome reminder that offshore energy production is vital for efforts to restore and rebuild our coastline. Supporting our energy workers supports our coastline and our economy,” Cassidy said. “COVID-19 has reduced this year’s revenue, and President Biden’s actions threaten future funding.”
The monies that will be dispersed include:
- Louisiana, $110 million
- Texas, $67.4 million
- Mississippi, $36.5 million
- Alabama $35 million
state government’s 80 percent share of the money coming to Louisiana, about $88 million, will help fund projects included in Louisiana’s fiscal 2021 and 2022 coastal annual plans, including several segments of the Upper Barataria Risk Reduction levee system, hurricane levees in Plaquemines Parish, a storm surge risk reduction system in St. Tammany Parish and a variety of other projects along the state’s coast. Bren Haase, executive director of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, which oversees use of the money, said the amounts listed in the state’s 2022 annual plan, which is subject to approval by the Legislature, assumed that offshore revenue would be lower this year because of the pandemic. Under the federal law, the coastal parishes may use their 20 percent share of the state money for coastal protection, including conservation, coastal restoration, hurricane protection and infrastructure directly affected by coastal wetland losses. They also may use money to mitigate the effects of offshore drilling activities through funding of related onshore infrastructure projects.
The Parishes receiving money and the amount include:
Plaquemines, $2.1 million
Jefferson, $1.8 million
Terrebonne, $1.7 million
St. Tammany, $1.2 million
Vermilion, $1.1 million
Orleans, $1.6 million
Cameron, $1.5 million
Calcasieu, $1.2 million
Iberia, $1.2 million
Lafourche, $1.1 million
St. Bernard, $1 million
St. Mary, $963,784
Livingston, $914,542
Tangipahoa, $880,267
St. Martin, $819,457
St. Charles, $780,781
St. John the Baptist, $736,370
Assumption, $730,415
St. James, $681,467
The recognition by the Senator that off shore wind revenue is welcomed as it at least ids a recognition that renewables are coming.
