By the OGJ Online Staff
WASHINGTON, DC, May 1 -- The US Minerals Management Service announced late Wednesday that it recently paid $65 million to six coastal states under terms of a 1986 law designed to give states an annual share of proceeds from certain federal Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas leases.
Fifteen years ago, Congress amended section 8(g) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. Those amendments required the federal government to share with affected states 27% of future revenues generated from leasing and developing oil and gas in the federal "8(g)" zone -- an area 3 to 6 miles wide and located directly adjacent to a state's seaward boundary.
The law mandated a one-time payment of about $1.5 billion be paid to the affected coastal states from funds held in escrow, and annual payments for 15 years.
Including the final 2001 disbursement, Alabama, Alaska, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas have received a combined $650 million in annual payments.
California got most of those funds, a total of $289 million. Alaska received $134 million, Texas $134 million, Louisiana $84 million, Alabama $7 million, and Mississippi $2 million.
