Copyright 1999 Federal Document Clearing House, Inc.
Federal Document Clearing House Congressional Testimony
May 03, 1999
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 850 words
HEADLINE:
TESTIMONY May 03, 1999 RANDY L. EWING SENATOR LOUISIANA STATE SENATE
HOUSE RESOURCES CONSERVATION AND REINVESTMENT
BODY:
Testimony for the U.S. House Committee on
Resources Submitted by Senator Randy L. Ewing President, Louisiana State Senate
May 3, 1999 Mr. Chairman and Honorable Members of the Committee, thank you for
this opportunity to express my support for the Conservation and
Reinvestment Act of 1999, H.R_ 701, some of the most important
conservation legislation Congress has ever taken under consideration. Although I
support all three titles of the bill, I want to specifically address Title I
which would dedicate 27% of the annual Federal offshore oil and gas revenues to
coastal impact assistance. I hail from northern Louisiana, just 50 miles south
of the Arkansas border, but only 200 miles from the Outer Continental Shelf. All
of my life, my friends and neighbors have worked offshore on the rigs that
produce oil and gas from the coastal waters. The oil and gas industries employ
over 55,000 people in Louisiana, and more than 30,000 are employed offshore.
Over the years, countless right-of-ways have been secured and pipelines laid
through our timber, farm and residential lands across the state. From the 1940's
through the 1980's, there was much onshore exploration across Louisiana. This
was a major part of our economy. During the last 20 years, however, most of the
land based oil activity has dwindled. Louisiana is no longer a major on-shore
producer of oil and natural gas, but rather a major processor of these
resources. Revenues to fuel the economy produced from severance taxes have
dwindled, but our cost of maintaining support for the state's infrastructure and
addressing our environmental concerns have increased dramatically. Schools,
hospitals, roads, education and public safety once supported by our mineral
production have seen revenue support decline from 42- and-a-half percent of our
budget support to eight percent. As increased volumes of OCS and foreign
products took the place of domestic production, we simply lost our base. Yet the
country is still as well served as ever with reliable and reasonable sources of
energy that Louisiana has provided through location, massive infrastructure and
its people. Louisiana people, natural resources and infrastructure make it
possible for federal OCS oil and gas exploration to be successful and
economically developed and for foreign oil to be landed, transformed into useful
products, and distributed throughout the United States. Forty-thousand miles of
oil and gas pipelines crisscross the state, its sensitive wetlands, residential
neighborhoods and densely populated areas. These activities require thousands of
miles of canals, ports for barges and ocean- going tankers, roads, hospitals,
public works structures, fire and police protection, hundreds of plants,
thousands of waste pits and waste disposal and treatment facilities. The
processing in Louisiana of OCS and foreign oil results in the destruction or
degradation of the Louisiana environment. In 1997, Louisiana provided
development of $3.8 billion of federal mineral resources and received only $18.2
million for its share of revenues produced in federal offshore waters. Annually,
Louisiana handles one-half billion barrels of oil, 135 million of which are from
Louisiana. It handles 6.5 trillion cubic feet of gas, 1.6 trillion feet of which
are from Louisiana. Twenty-five years ago, Louisiana's contribution from its own
production was four times greater, but Louisiana still handles the same amount
of oil it always has. The major difference is that most of the product is
foreign, from the OCS, or from other states. Louisiana's OCS is the most
extensively developed territory in the United States. It has produced 88.8
percent of the crude oil and condensate and 83.2 percent of the natural gas
extracted from all federal OCS territories from the beginning of oil and gas
exploration and development in the United States through the end of 1996.
Eighteen percent of the U. S. oil production originates in, is transported
through, or is produced in Louisiana. Twenty-four percent of the United States
natural gas production originates in or is processed in Louisiana coastal
wetlands. There are 3,439 platforrns in the Gulf off the Louisiana coast. The
idea of a fair share from our fellow American citizens living in the rest of the
country is not new, but this renewed effort to seek consideration equal to that
of any other state that provides such a valuable service and contributes so
meaningfully to our country's well being cannot be ignored. In a little less
than four years, our nation will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the
Louisiana Purchase, the most amazing and valuable real estate purchase in
history. The Union and the purchased region merged and, throughout the years,
enormous mutual benefit has been derived. Louisiana is a proud and patriotic
people. We fight in our wars, we grow great quantities of food and fiber, we
share our culture, our resources, our labor, our love. We have in the past and
we always will. We only ask for our fair share. The Conservation and
Reinvestment Act of 1999 will provide this.
LOAD-DATE: May 11, 1999 
