Sen. Landrieu pushes BOEM to open up more areas for energy production

Mary L. Landrieu, U.S. Senator for Louisiana, Chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources renewed her call for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to open more areas to energy production in its new Five Year OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2017-2022.

Yesterday, BOEM held an offshore lease sale that yielded over $110 million dollars from high bids in over 400,000 acres in the Western Gulf Planning Area.

Related: BOEM: Lease sale attracts $110M in high bids

Last month, Sen. Landrieu sent a joint letter with pro-Energy Democrats calling on BOEM to expand offshore energy production in its next Five-Year Plan.

“More offshore energy exploration and production means more high-paying jobs for hard working Americans that pay the kind of wages that allow middle class families to buy homes, save for college and build wealth. And it means achieving energy security for the United States—something that has bedeviled Congress and Republican and Democratic presidents for decades,” Sen. Landrieu said.

Related: Senator Landrieu calls for expanded offshore exploration in U.S.

“Having these potential resources beneath our waters and not using them is shortsighted and makes us more dependent on countries that are unstable or do not share our values. I will continue to push BOEM to open up more areas for energy production off our coasts in its next five year plan.”

Senator Landrieu also called for Congress to expand the revenue sharing she established through the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA) by passing the FAIR Act, a bill she co-sponsored with Senator Lisa Murkowski (R, Alaska).

“GOMESA has already provided over $30 million dollars to Gulf Coast states since 2006 and will generate hundreds of millions more in the years to come. We can build on GOMESA’s success by passing the FAIR Act, which would allow all coastal states to be able to receive their fair share of the over $8 billion in revenue generated through offshore energy production every year.”