Letter to Max Baucus, Charles Grassley, Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Finance; Sander Levin and David Camp, Chair and Ranking Member of the House Committee on Ways and Means

Letter

U.S. Congressman Dean Heller (R-NV) was joined by Representatives Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), Mike Simpson (R-ID), and Mike Thompson (D-CA) in pushing to retain the geothermal royalty reinstatement provisions in the tax extenders bill (H.R. 4213) should the legislation be finalized in a conference agreement. The Administration's budget for fiscal year 2010 eliminated royalty revenue sharing for local governments. The text of the letter is below.

June 9, 2010

The Honorable Max Baucus
Chairman
Senate Committee on Finance
219 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Charles Grassley
Ranking Member
Senate Committee on Finance
219 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Sander Levin
Chairman
House Committee on Ways and Means
1102 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable David Camp
Ranking Member
House Committee on Ways and Means
1139E Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Baucus, Ranking Member Grassley, Chairman Levin, and Ranking Member Camp:

Hidden in Section 423 of the fiscal year 2010 Interior Appropriations legislation was a provision that stripped counties of the geothermal energy revenue sharing that was enacted as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This section robbed counties of their 25 percent share, which they count on to provide services to their public lands counties.

To right this wrong, the Nevada Senate Delegation worked to successfully include an amendment to the Senate version of the tax extenders bill, now H.R. 4213, that would retroactively repeal the provision that stripped counties of this vital revenue. To address this issue, we strongly urge you to retain this important provision in the final bill.

Some of our western counties have as little as 2% taxable land base, and geothermal revenue sharing provides a funding stream that allows communities to fund vital services such as law enforcement, emergency health care and search and rescue. During these difficult economic times, the retention of this amendment in the final version of the bill is vital.

Additionally, our counties, which are already struggling financially, are now being compelled by the Department of the Interior to return monies that have been allocated and, in some cases, spent. Reclaiming these payments will be a significant burden to all impacted counties who use this money for first responders, transportation, public safety and other vital programs. Including this language in a final bill will ensure this problem is fixed.

Again, we strongly urge you to include the Senate amendment related to geothermal revenue sharing in the final version of the tax extenders bill.