House panel OKs budget bill allowing leasing in OCS areas now off-limits

摘要

In a first for Congress, a committee approved a bill that would allow states to request leasing in offshore areas now off-limits to oil and natural gas producers. The House Resources Committee Wednesday voted 24-16 to include the proposal and authorize Arctic National Wildlife Refuge leasing in an advancing budget reconciliation bill. The measure keeps the existing presidential ban on new Outer Continental Shelf leasing in place through 2012, but it would allow a state to petition the Interior Department to remove or preserve the moratorium within 125 miles of its coastline. For the first time, states that elect to lease would get a share of federal royalties. Now, states do not get any revenue from activities in federal waters, which begin three miles from the coast. The House plan would offer them 40% of federal royalties from new OCS leasing.