Letter to Barack Obama, President of the United States - Geothermal Royalty Payments

Letter

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama,

We are writing to express our disappointment that your Fiscal Year 2014 Budget proposal repealed the sharing of geothermal royalty payments to counties. We understand the need to propose a fiscally prudent budget, but repealing geothermal royalty payments to counties is a short sighted method that does nearly nothing to solve our fiscal problems.

In the bipartisan Energy Policy Act of 2005, Congress decided that because of the high burdens geothermal production places on the counties where geothermal development is located, these counties should share in the revenue of the federal receipts. In turn, counties have used these revenues to pay for critical governmental services, such as road maintenance, public safety and law enforcement, and conservation easements. This revenue sharing has also made counties vested partners, and ultimately champions, in the continued development of geothermal energy--a clean, renewable, and domestic energy source that provides jobs in rural areas.

Ending the geothermal revenue sharing plan would have a significant negative impact on our districts, while the overall effect on our nation's fiscal well-being would be miniscule--$4 million in 2014 and $48 million over 10 years. Many of the counties that receive revenue from geothermal receipts are small, rural communities facing precarious budget situations. The loss of such revenue for these counties could result in the elimination or reduction of essential services. We strongly support geothermal revenue sharing with counties and we encourage you to reconsider its repeal in future budget and deficit reduction proposals.

We appreciate your attention to this issue and look forward to working with you to promote geothermal energy production and provide support for the surrounding communities.

Sincerely,

MIKE THOMPSON MARK AMODEI
Member of Congress Member of Congress

JARED HUFFMAN STEVAN PEARCE
Member of Congress Member of Congress

JOHN GARAMENDI JOE HECK
Member of Congress Member of Congress

JUAN VARGAS
Member of Congress