Thursday
May202010
Bill Would Provide Immediate Economic Relief To Gulf Community
Thursday, May 20, 2010 at 11:45AM
Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D) introduced legislation Thursday aimed at helping businesses and communities affected by the continuing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Landrieu’s bill would direct roughly 40 percent of oil revenues the federal government collects from companies leasing sites in the Gulf to immediately go to the states hit hardest by the disaster. Currently, most of those revenues aren’t slated to be shared until 2017, but Landrieu noted there is good reason to accelerate the pace.
Right now, she said, “There is more oil being spilled in the Gulf in one day and a half then has flowed into the entire Gulf for the last decade."
Landrieu accused the federal government of "shortchanging" the Gulf area for years in terms of helping protect states from spills and other drilling-related disasters. However, she praised the Obama administration for signing off on plans to invest $20 billion in developing the Gulf shore’s economy, and hit back against critics who argue the bill unfairly benefits a handful of states that don’t necessarily lay sole claim to the oil that is produced off their coasts.
“I’ve always conceded that [the oil] is a federal resource as opposed to a state resource,” she said. “Yet...it’s the coastal states that bear almost 100 percent of the risk.”
Landrieu estimated the price tag of her bill to be around $3 billion, but warned of course, that not passing it would cost the government far more in the long run.
Congress is expected to take up the legislation sometime next week.
Click here for more information.
Landrieu’s bill would direct roughly 40 percent of oil revenues the federal government collects from companies leasing sites in the Gulf to immediately go to the states hit hardest by the disaster. Currently, most of those revenues aren’t slated to be shared until 2017, but Landrieu noted there is good reason to accelerate the pace.
Right now, she said, “There is more oil being spilled in the Gulf in one day and a half then has flowed into the entire Gulf for the last decade."
Landrieu accused the federal government of "shortchanging" the Gulf area for years in terms of helping protect states from spills and other drilling-related disasters. However, she praised the Obama administration for signing off on plans to invest $20 billion in developing the Gulf shore’s economy, and hit back against critics who argue the bill unfairly benefits a handful of states that don’t necessarily lay sole claim to the oil that is produced off their coasts.
“I’ve always conceded that [the oil] is a federal resource as opposed to a state resource,” she said. “Yet...it’s the coastal states that bear almost 100 percent of the risk.”
Landrieu estimated the price tag of her bill to be around $3 billion, but warned of course, that not passing it would cost the government far more in the long run.
Congress is expected to take up the legislation sometime next week.
Click here for more information.
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