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From
Redstate...
Could Offshore
Drilling Reduce the Deficit?
By Robert Bluey
Republicans press White House for data on the government's offshore
drilling revenue
Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) wants the Obama administration to provide
Congress with data on the federal government’s offshore drilling
revenue — information that would show just how much President Obama’s
anti-drilling policies are impacting the budget.
Based on recent projections from the U.S. Energy Information
Administration, production in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to drop
this year by 220,000 barrels per day. With oil currently at $90 a
barrel and the government’s royalty rate at 18.75 percent, that equals
$3.7 million in lost federal revenue each day.
Last fall Vitter asked the Interior Department to share revenue
figures, but Interior Secretary Ken Salazar ignored the request. Now,
Vitter is taking his case directly to the White House.
In a letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Jacob Lew,
Vitter and Rep. Jeff Landry (R-La.) called attention to recent reports
that credit rating agencies are keeping a close eye on the U.S.
government.
They also asked Lew to respond to seven questions related to domestic
energy production:
1. In terms of revenue generation year over year from
domestic offshore energy production — considering bonus bids and
royalty revenue, as well as rents and taxes from income — what has been
the net revenue each year from 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010? And what is
OMB projecting to be the revenue in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015?
2. Is OMB projecting revenue from lease sales in 2011
and 2012, and what is the projected revenue from those lease sales?
Please also provide net revenue from lease sales in 2008, 2009, and
2010.
3. How does OMB account for, and what methodologies
does OMB use to measure, future revenue from all sources of domestic
energy? Can these numbers be broken down by the type of energy resource?
4. What has been the revenue generation from
renewable energy for FY 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, and what is OMB
projecting to be the revenue in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015? Also,
what has been the total amount of grants and subsidies paid out to
renewable energy each year, and what are the projections for the
noticed years?
5. What companies and Venture Capital firms
(including their start-up investments) are the top 10 recipients of
federal grants, loans and subsidies for renewable energy, and what is
the dollar figure for each firm from years 2007 through 2010?
6. How does OMB account for a fundamental transition
from wealth-generating energy industries to massively-subsidized energy
industries in its analysis of revenue generation and our fiscal
situation?
7. For the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,
what was the total number of projects that received categorical
exclusions or reduced environmental review under the Act? What is the
percentage of total projects?
Vitter said months ago that lost revenue from offshore drilling is
exacerbating the federal deficit. With a debate looming over the debt
ceiling, he’s now pressing his case.
“As the United States rapidly approaches its debt ceiling, we
appreciate your timely response to this letter to inform all members of
Congress how the federal government is harnessing or limiting its
energy sector’s ability to contribute to our overall economy,” Vitter
and Landry wrote in their letter to Lew. “These figures and statistics
would go a long way to helping us all make a clearer, more informed
decision.”
Redstate.com
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