President Obama is proposing that an offshore revenue sharing plan, set to provide Louisiana millions of dollars in revenue for coastal restoration, be replaced with a plan that would spread that money across the nation for various issues.
Senator Bill Cassidy says the proposal would strip Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states of revenue promised by the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act which is scheduled to go into effect in 2017. He believes the president has become ambivalent to the people affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. "This money, by our Constitution, is set to prevent such a disaster from happening in the future," Cassidy said. He argues the revenue from the energy security act will be used to maintain levees and provide coastal restoration.
Cassidy suggests the president look at other revenue streams, pointing out some states get 50-percent of the royalties from oil and gas resources produced on in-state lands, while Louisiana, over the past three years, has gotten less than one percent.
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