Rep. Calvert Touts Win-Win Proposal to Help CA Budget Crisis and Domestic Energy Production

Press Release

Rep. Calvert Touts Win-Win Proposal to Help CA Budget Crisis and Domestic Energy Production

Urges Governor and Federal Government to Embrace the MORE Act

Following the bipartisan California delegation meeting yesterday with Governor Schwarzenegger, Congressman Ken Calvert (R-CA) issued the following statement in light of California's budget crisis and the need for new sources of energy:

"As Californians went to the polls to vote no on several tax raising propositions yesterday, I call on Governor Schwarzenegger and the federal government to embrace a win-win solution that will help solve California's budget fiasco as well as provide new sources for energy production. The MORE Act, which I introduced earlier this year, will encourage additional offshore oil and natural gas exploration and production in the Outer Continental Shelf. The State of California would retain 90% of the royalties paid on leases allowed within 25 miles of its shoreline and 75% of royalties paid on leases outside of 25 miles.

"California is on the brink of fiscal ruin and our state should not be demanding more taxes from its citizens when it is clearly inept at financial management. The time has come to open up our own natural resources which will provide a financial boon to our state coffers; wean our country off foreign dependence on oil; put people to work and utilize our own resources in an environmentally sound way."

The MORE Act, H.R. 797:

The MORE Act removes restrictions on offshore leases for oil and natural gas exploration and production for any area of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The bill prevents any leases within 25 miles of a state's coastline, unless the state enacts a law approving such leases.

The MORE Act makes significant changes to the distribution of OCS royalties from oil and natural gas leases. For oil and natural gas leases beyond 25 miles of the coastline, the bill distributes 75% of the royalties to the producing states and the remaining 25% to the U.S. Treasury. If states elect to allow exploration and production within 25 miles of their coastline, then their share of the royalties would increase to 90%.

OCS Background:

(Source: Congressional Research Service)

The Department of the Interior (DOI) released a comprehensive inventory of OCS resources in February 2006 that estimated reserves of 8.5 billion barrels of oil and 29.3 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas. Another 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 tcf of natural gas are classified as undiscovered resources.

Source