Nick Snow
Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON, DC, Dec. 6 -- US House leaders pulled the Senate's Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas leasing reform bill from the floor on Dec. 5 because there were not enough votes to pass it under special fast-track rules.
Proponents had pushed to get S. 3711 on the calendar under a rules suspension to keep it from being amended. But they apparently lacked the votes to reach the two-thirds majority required in such cases.
The bill must pass the House without amendments to avoid a conference and move directly to the president for enactment. "While we would have had a majority of support for it, last-minute lobbying against the bill might have prevented us from reaching the two-thirds margin needed," said Rep. Bobby Jindal (R-La.).
He said House leaders told him that S. 3711 would be taken up before the end of the week as a stand-alone measure or as part of another bill.
Louisiana representatives and senators from both parties say passage of the Senate's OCS bill is vital since it contains a provision giving Gulf Coast states except Florida a portion of federal OCS oil and gas revenue.
"We have been patiently producing energy for the rest of the nation for 50 years, and we are tired of waiting for the funding we need to restore our disappearing coastal wetlands and protect our communities from future hurricanes," said Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.).
He and Jindal were two of the primary sponsors of HR 4761, a more aggressive OCS leasing reform bill that would have given coastal states beyond the Gulf of Mexico a means to share federal revenue in exchange for allowing leasing off their coastlines.
Eastern gulf
S. 3711 focuses on 8.3 million acres in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, including tracts from OCS Lease Sale 181, which President George W. Bush withdrew in 2001 and adjacent acreage to the south in deeper water. It added a revenue-sharing provision and a 125-mile buffer off Florida to S. 2253, which the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee passed on Mar. 8 but which was delayed until agreements could be reached with senators from the five Gulf Coast states.
A potential problem is that HR 4761 included language requiring the US Department of the Interior to recover deepwater royalties lost when price thresholds were omitted from leases for 2 years.
Backers of S. 3711's immediate passage say an amendment inserting the language isn't needed because it's already part of Interior's fiscal 2007 appropriation.
Senate energy leaders urged the House to pass the bill. "The public supports this legislation. American business and manufacturers, small and large, are clamoring for its passage. The president wants this bill, and national newspapers across the political spectrum are running editorials urging Congress to get it done," said Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Pete V. Domenici (R-NM).
"We have precious little time left but remain hopeful that the House will schedule an opportunity for the bill to pass this week with the momentum of its strong, 71-to-25, bipartisan passage in the Senate," said Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.), who helped Domenici develop the final bill. The measure would share 37.5% of future federal leasing revenue with Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.
Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said the bill also would establish a "historic conservation royalty" with its provision designating 12.5% of future federal offshore oil and gas revenue for use by all states in the Land and Water Conservation Fund. "To begin with, the dollars will be small, but they eventually could amount to as much as $100 million/year," he said.
The Independent Petroleum Association of America also urged House leaders to immediately schedule a closed-rule vote. "We are in the last minute of the last hour to pass vital OCS legislation that opens previously restricted areas to safe and responsible energy production," IPAA Pres. Barry Russell said.
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].
