WASHINGTON –U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., Chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources called for expanded energy exploration and production in the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in a joint letter with Senators Begich, D-Alaska, Warner, D-Va., and Manchin, D-W.Va., to Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell. The letter was sent as part of the Department of the Interior’s Request for Information on the new Five Year OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2017-2022.

“There is strong bipartisan support from members of Congress, governors, state legislators, local leaders and the general public for allowing oil and natural gas development in more areas of the U.S. OCS. Areas that have not seen the direct benefits of offshore development are anxious to reap them,” Sen. Landrieu wrote in the letter. “Offshore energy production must play a key role as we continue down the path as an energy superpower creating more American jobs, providing much-needed federal and local government revenue, and enhancing our nation’s energy security.”

The letter also calls on the Department of the Interior to expand revenue sharing partnerships to all coastal states. The Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, which Sen. Landrieu passed with former Senator Pete Domenici, R-N.M., in 2006, established revenue sharing for Gulf Coast states that produce oil and gas off their shores for the first time.

“Robust offshore energy development should also provide equitable distribution of revenues to states supporting that production, especially those who currently do not benefit from revenue sharing and royalty payments, which will allow for much needed coastal protection and resiliency efforts and for necessary related infrastructure investments,” Sen. Landrieu wrote. “With over $7 billion sent each year to the Federal treasury and billions more expected, it is both fair and forward thinking to use a portion of these revenues to support the coastal states who host this energy production for our country.”

SENATOR LANDRIEU’S PROVEN RECORD OF EXPANDING OFFSHORE ENERGY, CREATING HIGH-PAYING ENERGY JOBS

Earlier this month, Sen. Landrieu pushed for more offshore energy production during the first-ever Committee field hearing in Lafayette, La. – the epicenter of the offshore energy revolution.

In 2006, Senator Landrieu passed the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA), which opened up 8.3 million offshore acres in the Gulf for drilling that will generate nearly two million additional barrels of oil per day – more than the total output of Wyoming and Colorado combined. This effort was the first time in nearly 25 years that domestic energy production was expanded so substantially, and was more than nearly any other senator has ever done to expand drilling.

In 2010, Sen. Landrieu blocked the nomination of Jack Lew to lead the Office of Management and Budget until the Obama administration lifted its deep-water moratorium. It did. She has also successfully defeated Republican and Democratic attempts to raise taxes on the oil and gas industry, including a recent attempt to do so in the 2013 Senate budget. In December 2007, Sen. Landrieu cast the pivotal vote that killed a $21 billion tax hike on energy companies supported by members of both parties. Earlier that year, she also killed another attempt to raise nearly $30 billion in taxes on oil and gas companies that specifically targeted production in the Gulf of Mexico. [Times-Picayune, Dec. 14, 2007; New York Times, June 23, 2007]