Press Releases

Washington, D.C. (March 19, 2015) – As part of his 2016 budget proposal in February, President Obama unveiled a plan to divert billions of dollars in gulf state offshore oil and gas revenue to other federal programs.  The proposal would override the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA), a bipartisan 2006 law ensuring gulf states receive a 37.5 percent share of oil and gas royalties from production in waters off their states’ shores.  In late February, a group of Members of Congress joined the refrain in an unpublicized letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Budget Committee recently obtained by E&E News.

In response to this targeting of state energy revenue, Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Cynthia Lummis (WY-At large) and Rep. Garret Graves (LA-06) issued the following statements:

“When the federal government collects oil and gas royalties in a state’s backyard or off their shores, states deserve a share of the proceeds,” said Chairman Lummis. “It is stunning that an Obama Administration so bent on limiting energy production on federal lands and waters now wants to raid the state share of revenue from the production they do allow to go forward.  The federal government already receives an ample share, and if it wants more money it should expand opportunities for responsible energy production on federal lands and waters, not rob the states and communities that power our economy and are working to achieve a secure energy future for America.”    

"The Obama Administration’s efforts to rescind GOMESA only contribute to the loss of coastal wetlands and increase the vulnerability of our coastal communities to catastrophic hurricane disasters,” said Rep. Graves. “For over six years this administration has done nothing but fabricate impediments to efforts to improve the resilience of our coastal communities, ecosystem and economy. Attempting to rescind energy revenue sharing for the Gulf of Mexico states while continuing to support revenue sharing for other states is simply indefensible."

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