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For Immediate Release
September 29, 2006
Contact: Brian Kennedy (202) 226-9019
DOER Act Sponsors Issue Joint Statement
on Status of Energy Bill Negotiations
WASHINGTON,
DC – U.S. Representatives Richard W. Pombo (R-CA), John Peterson (R-PA), Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), Bobby Jindal
(R-LA), Charlie Melancon (D-LA), and Adam Putnam (R-FL), issued the
following joint statement today, announcing that negotiations on pending
energy legislation will continue when Congress returns to Washington in
November.
On the House-passed Deep Ocean Energy Resources (DOER Act):
After a quarter century of one-size-fits-all bans that make it illegal
for America
to develop her own energy resources from deep seas, we crafted and the House
of Representatives passed bipartisan, commonsense legislation to free this
country from the chains of foreign dependence.
The Deep Ocean
Energy Resources (DOER) Act eliminates Washington’s
one-size-fits-all, do-nothing approach by granting coastal states full and
complete authority over their shores for the first time ever. Under the
DOER Act’s flexible framework, States that wish to produce energy for America and
create jobs for their citizens will be able to do just that, under their own
careful discretion. At the same time, States that wish to continue
energy production bans will enjoy unprecedented power to do so forever, with
the additional peace of mind that comes with the understanding that
Washington’s Beltway will no longer controls their shores.
This commonsense compromise will deliver the energy supplies America needs
to lower prices for consumers and create hundreds of thousands of family-wage
jobs at the same time. In fact, the DOER Act represents the
single-largest step toward American energy security passed by either chamber
in Congress in more than three decades. As its title suggests, this
bill finally does something meaningful – and comprehensive – to
shift the current paradigm of foreign dependence to one of
self-sufficiency. After years of band-aid solutions to our energy
problems, the people of the country deserve nothing less. They have
been asking for us to do something about energy problems, and we did.
On the Status of Negotiations with the Senate:
As such, and on behalf of the millions of consumers and
the many labor unions that supported this effort, we will not rest until
something truly meaningful is achieved. We have gotten very close to
working out the differences between our bill and that passed by the
Senate. Among the issues that remain are questions over boundary lines
from the original Senate bill and how those map lines will impact the
division of revenues to States.
However, that chamber’s leaders have agreed that
it is essential to recover the $13 billion in lost royalty revenue from
energy companies, and that Congress must share those receipts generously with
America’s
Gulf Coast States to help them recover from hurricane damage. They have
further agreed that future energy production revenues shall, in part, be
dedicated to eliminating the funding shortfalls for Rural Schools hurt by
reduced budgets because of a severe reduction in timber harvests from our
public lands. And finally, the Senate has acknowledged the need to
expand and diversify America’s
energy infrastructure beyond the Gulf of Mexico.
Therefore, we remain confident that we will complete a bill –
this year - that will show the American public we understand their
frustration with expensive foreign energy.
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Click here
for more information on the DOER Act
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