Bipartisan Effort in the Senate Defeats Legislation to Incentivize Offshore Drilling #GOMESA

On November 17th, a bipartisan coalition in the Senate defeated Senate Bill 3110, which would have expanded revenue sharing and incentivised offshore drilling. Proposed by Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), S. 3100 would have amended the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 (GOMESA) by significantly increasing the revenue from offshore drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico shared amongst designated states. Additionally, the legislation would have established a revenue sharing operation in Alaska, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, in an attempt to incentivize new offshore drilling operations in these states. Currently, only Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas receive funds from GOMESA.In response, Sierra Club Lands Protection Director Athan Manuel released the following statement:

“We applaud the bipartisan coalition of Senators who defeated this bill, protecting coastal communities from opening up more of our waters for offshore drilling. This legislation was nothing more than a scheme to circumvent the American people in order to pad the pockets of corporate polluters and campaign contributors, and we thank the Senators who stood up and blocked it.

”The strong bipartisan opposition to this bill proves once again that the protection and security of our waters and coastal communities is paramount, and neither Congress nor a future administration should try to threaten it by increasing or incentivizing offshore drilling.”