Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who represent major offshore oil and natural gas producing states, are expected to introduce legislation Wednesday aimed at capturing a greater share of the revenues for the coastal states.

While onshore producing states keep 50% of royalties, rentals and bonus bids, offshore producing states keep virtually nothing, the two senators said. Their legislation, the “Fixing America’s Inequality with Revenues (FAIR) Act,” proposes to give offshore producing states a fair share of the revenues from the energy that they help produce. The bill seeks to address oil and natural gas, as well as renewable energy production.

The measure also would phase out the current congressionally mandated $500 million per year cap on revenues kept by Gulf Coast producing states, according to Murkowski and Landrieu.

“It is unfair that the federal government is a willing partner with onshore energy production but does not partner with offshore energy production. It is time for this injustice to end, which is why I’m joining Sen. Lisa Murkowski to introduce bipartisan, commonsense legislation to ensure a fair share of revenues for all energy-producing states,” Landrieu said.

Murkowski and Landrieu have been working for several months on legislation to give coastal states a greater share of the revenue from offshore drilling. In late February, Sen David Vitter (R-LA) also offered legislation that would increase revenue sharing with all offshore producing states by an additional $3 billion annually (see Daily GPI, March 1).

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