Washington, D.C. -- The Louisiana Congressional Republican Delegation issued the following joint statement today regarding negotiations on offshore royalty legislation.

"As negotiations between the House and Senate continue on an offshore royalty bill, the most important issue that remains to be resolved is fixing an oversight by the federal government in the late 1990s that resulted in billions of dollars of lost royalty revenue from oil companies.

The main question remaining to be worked out is whether the federal oversight money will go to the Federal Treasury or be shared in part with states as compensation for production on existing leases.  The original House bill contained language fixing this error, but the Senate bill was silent on the issue.  In recent negotiations, the Senate has offered to agree with the House to fix this oversight, but has directed 100 percent of the money to the Federal Treasury.

It is crucial that this funding be shared with states like Louisiana who have provided our country with the energy it needs for generations.  Estimates are this will generate more than $1 billion a year over the next 25 years, and a substantial portion of those revenues should go to Louisiana as compensation for the numerous existing leases off of Louisiana's coasts that provide a significant portion of our nation's energy supply.  We hope that Leadership in both the House and the Senate will recognize the importance of this provision, and will work out an agreement to allow a portion of this lease money to go to Gulf Coast states.

Our concerns are about fixing a problem in the Gulf of Mexico; they are not about drilling off the Atlantic Coast.  While we believe it is good policy to allow states to determine whether or not energy production happens off their shores, it is not worth derailing this important bill.

The Louisiana Republican House Congressional delegation will continue to be united in our efforts to pass this legislation that will greatly benefit our state.  We are confident that we can send a final bill to the President for his signature once this issue is resolved."

--Louisiana House Republican Congressional Delegation

            Congressman Bobby Jindal (LA-01)                                                                              

            Congressman Richard Baker (LA-06)                                                                  

            Congressman Jim McCrery (LA-04)                                                                           

            Congressman Rodney Alexander (LA-05)                                                                            

            Congressman Charles Boustany (LA-07)