Copyright 1999 Federal Document Clearing House, Inc.
Federal Document Clearing House Congressional Testimony
May 03, 1999
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 971 words
HEADLINE:
TESTIMONY May 03, 1999 MURPHY J. "MIKE" FOSTER GOVERNOR STATE OF LOUISIANA
HOUSE RESOURCES CONSERVATION AND REINVESTMENT
BODY:
May 3, 1999 Testimony for the United States
House Committee on Resources Submitted by Governor Murphy J. "Mike" Foster State
of Louisiana Mr. Chairman and Honorable Members of the Committee, welcome to
Louisiana. Thank you for taking your time to travel here to learn about this
important issue from Louisianians that represent a number of interests in our
state. To my friends, Congressmen Billy Tauzin and Chris John, thank you for all
your efforts on behalf of our state and its people. Mr. Chairman, the State of
Louisiana strongly supports the enactment of the Conservation and
Reinvestment Act of 1999, H.R. 701. This legislation addresses both an
inequity and a great need of our state. First, I'll address the inequity. The
Federal government has not been fair with the State of Louisiana when it comes
to the return of Federal mineral revenues to states that are impacted directly
by Federal mineral development. The problem is that the Mineral Leasing Act of
1920 shares 50% of the onshore Federal mineral receipts with the states, but the
Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act shares only a fraction of the revenues from
those Federal offshore leases located closest to the adjacent coastal state and
has done that only since 1986. In fiscal year 1997, rive states received from
the Federal government more Federal mineral revenues than did Louisiana, yet the
Federal mineral receipts from offshore Louisiana were over rive times greater
than the amount of mineral revenues from any of these rive states. For example,
from onshore New Mexico, the Federal government received $341 million and
returned $167 million to the state. The Federal government received $489 million
from Wyoming and returned $237 million to the state. These funds were
distributed automatically, with no restriction on use, and were not subject to
appropriation by Congress. Now, what about Louisiana? Louisiana provided the
support for $2.7 billion in Federal receipts from offshore oil and gas
development on the Louisiana OCS in fiscal year 1997. Louisiana received in
return only $21.1 million - one-tenth of Wyoming's receipts and one-eighth of
New Mexico's receipts. In addition, these states collected severance tax on the
production of the Federal minerals that were produced in their states, but
Louisiana cannot collect severance taxes on the Federal oil and gas produced on
the Louisiana OCS. If you look at the cumulative numbers since 1920, the Federal
government has received from onshore New Mexico S5.4 billion and returned to the
state S2.6 billion. The Federal government has received from onshore Wyoming
S7.8 billion and returned to the state S3.9 billion. From Louisiana, combining
onshore revenues since 1920 and offshore revenues since 1953, the Federal
government has received S49.9 billion and has returned less than $900 thousand
to the state. That means that New Mexico and Wyoming have received about 50% of
what they have contributed, while Louisiana has received less than 2%. By
anyone's count, those numbers represent a great inequity. H.R. 701 will
partially correct this injustice by sharing with Louisiana about 10% of the
annual revenues from Federal oil and gas development from the Louisiana OCS. Mr.
Chairman, correcting this current inequity to Louisiana Will also help us
address some major needs of our state and the nation. Number one is the
restoration of our coastal wetlands and barrier islands. We have lost 1,000
square miles of our coastal land in the last 50 years and are projected to lose
another 1,000 square miles in the next 50 years. Our coastal wetlands are unique
and cannot be replaced as a natural resource of this nation. Federal oil and gas
operations and the thousands of miles of pipelines that cut across our coast,
not to mention the wear and tear on our highways, have contributed to our
coastal losses and infrastructure damage. Many of those roads are not only
conduits for our nation's oil and gas related industries, but also serve as the
only hurricane evacuation routes for our citizens. The nation receives billions
of dollars in revenues at great cost to Louisiana's coastal towns and cities,
our people and their unique culture. The State has a plan called Coast 2050 that
will prevent much of our projected land loss and will significantly enhance our
current efforts to save and rebuild our coastline. But the plan is expensive:
almost $14 billion over the next 50 years. This legislation will provide the
money to help us implement the Coast 2050 program. The cost of not doing what
needs to be done would be catastrophic to our state and nation. Recognize that
this legislation will be good for every state in the Union, and we in Louisiana
are proud of our contribution to the nation through the Federal dollars we've
helped generate. I'd also like to express my support of both Titles II and HI of
this bill. Louisiana will benefit from these, especially Title III, which will
go far to ensure the conservation of non-game species before they become
endangered. We have gone through the challenge of bringing back the Brown
Pelican and the alligator from the endangered species list. Both are now
thriving in Louisiana, thanks in great part to our Department of Wildlife and
Fisheries. I have asked my secretary of Wildlife and Fisheries to submit
additional comments on Titles II and III to be included as part of the record.
Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, all three titles of this bill are
vitally important. Our state has borne the brunt of 90% of the Federal offshore
mineral development, and it is time to provide relief. Please make the enactment
of H.R. 701 in 1999 a priority of this committee and of each of you
individually. Please be fair to Louisiana in the final version of the bill that
is enacted by this Congress.
LOAD-DATE: May 11, 1999
