07.31.06

Cantwell Votes Against Offshore Drilling Proposal that Would Cost Taxpayers Billions

Senator emphasizes need for environmentally sound energy production, opposes bill that would create new open-ended entitlement, fail to lower energy prices

WASHINGTON, DC – Monday evening, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) voted in opposition to cutting off debate on a proposal to expand oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico due to the high financial burden the legislation places on American taxpayers. Specifically, the bill would cost taxpayers an estimated $170 billion over the next 60 years. Cantwell also called the legislation a missed opportunity to confront skyrocketing energy prices and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, since no amendments were allowed to the measure.

“This bill authorizes an open-ended drain on our federal treasury that will cost American taxpayers billions,” said Cantwell, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “The federal budget is already drowning in red ink. Meanwhile, major oil companies get tax breaks they don’t need and fail to pay up on the billions in royalties owed to the American public for drilling on public lands and waters. We simply can’t afford to create a new, permanent entitlement program for four states—without sufficient oversight or accountability for American taxpayers.”

The drilling legislation voted on Monday directs 37.5 percent of revenue from new leases in the proposed drilling areas to the states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. After 2017, this revenue share would be applied to all new Gulf of Mexico leases. This provision causes the value of the entitlement to jump to over $590 million per year in 2017. By 2022, it would climb to over $1.2 billion annually. In total, the legislation would cost the federal treasury an estimated $170 billion over 60 years.

“I support wetland restoration and other aid efforts to help rebuild the coast of Louisiana,” said Cantwell. “What I cannot support is broad, open-ended revenue sharing without assurances that these funds will actually be used to protect damaged coastlines and infrastructure.”

Cantwell supported a bipartisan bill (S. 2253) sponsored by Senators Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) earlier this year to open up an area within Lease 181 in the Gulf of Mexico, and also voted in 2001 to proceed with the Clinton Administration’s Lease Sale 181 plan. However, neither of those proposals contained the revenue-sharing provisions included in the legislation voted on today (S. 3711). In addition, S. 3711 would make available only half as much new natural gas as the Domenici-Bingaman bill approved by the Senate Energy Committee. According to Energy Department projections, S.3711 will only result in 0.483 trillion feet of uniquely new natural gas supplies over the next 60 years given the Lease 181 portion that will come online next year without Congressional action and the fact that Congress could choose not to renew the annual interior appropriations bill moratorium on the so-called Lease 181 South area.

“I think the vast majority of Washingtonians realize we can’t continue to put off getting serious about tackling our over-reliance on fossil fuels,” continued Cantwell. “Because we were not permitted to offer amendments to this legislation that would move America toward a cleaner, sustainable, more affordable energy future, this bill is nothing but a placebo. I support environmentally sound energy production in the Gulf as part of a balanced national energy strategy. But this bill is also a missed opportunity, underscored by the fact that the amount of oil and gas this bill would produce in the next 15 years is less than the amount our country used up in the few weeks we’ve spent talking about it.”

Last week, Cantwell joined a bipartisan coalition of her Senate colleagues to advocate several amendments to the drilling bill. However, in a rare procedural move, Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) blocked all amendments to the legislation. Cantwell had pushed, along with other coastal state senators, to add a provision to the legislation extending the existing moratorium on outer continental shelf drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific through 2022. The Senate version of the Gulf drilling bill only extends the moratorium for the west coast of Florida. Moreover, the House version of the legislation, which will later be combined with the Senate bill, would eliminate the current ban altogether and roll back a number of existing environmental protections. Cantwell also supported amendments to increase vehicle fuel efficiency standards, alternative fuel infrastructure, conservation, and renewable energy production.

Cantwell has long worked to guard against a devastating oil spill off Washington’s coast. A few weeks ago, Cantwell called for the first major oil spill response drill in the Olympic National Marine Sanctuary at the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, saying such an exercise was long overdue. Earlier this year, Cantwell introduced her Oil Pollution Prevention and Response Act (S. 2440), which would reduce the risk of an oil spill in Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca by requiring a year-round rescue tug in Neah Bay, stationing oil response equipment along the entire Strait of Juan de Fuca, strengthening navigational measures in sensitive areas, and authorizing financial support for Washington's Oil Spill Advisory Council. The legislation would also increase oil spill liability caps, require more comprehensive structural inspections of single-hull oil tankers, and initiate an analysis of oil transportation in the United States to determine if additional safeguards are needed.

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