Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio) recently announced plans to reintroduce a bill to open untapped oil and natural gas resources in the Outer Continental Shelf.
Stivers, a colonel who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom in Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar and Djibouti, said his bill would lessen American dependency on foreign oil.
Named the American-Made Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, the bill would also create millions of jobs, lower gas prices and generate new sources of revenue for infrastructure, according to Stivers.
The language in the bill would require the Obama Administration to submit a new lease plan by 2015 for developing the United States’ offshore energy resources. It would also require each five-year offshore leasing plan to include lease sales in the areas containing the greatest known oil and natural gas reserves. At least half of the specific areas would be made available for leasing in the plan.
Stivers said his bill would also establish revenue sharing of offshore revenue for coastal states. States in the Gulf of Mexico would receive 37.5 percent of revenue from new leases under the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act.
Atlantic coast states and Alaska are currently ineligible to share in revenues generated by oil, gas and renewable energy development in the OCS.
Any lease sales that were delayed or canceled by the Obama Administration on the coasts of Virginia, South Carolina and California would be lifted if the bill becomes law.
A final provision in the bill would authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to issue non-government backed, 20-year interest bearing bonds to provide an up-front funding source for transportation projects. The Treasury would be authorized to issue $25 billion per year over six years, which would provide a dedicated source of fresh revenue to the Highway Trust Fund and State Revolving Loan Funds.
Stivers introduced the same bill in the 112th Congress. It was included as the energy portion of the House’s multi-year highway reauthorization bill that never reached the Senate for debate.
The Obama Administration announced in 2011 that it would close the majority of the OCS to new energy production through 2017. Leadership in the House Natural Resources Committee blasted the announcement.
“Developing the United State’s offshore resources would create over a million jobs, generate billions in revenue and significantly reduce foreign oil imports,” Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), the committee’s chairman, said.
The OCS’s Governor’s Coalition sent a letter in July to various Congressional delegations urging legislators to “act in concert to champion OCS energy and, by effect, the vitality of our coastal and state economies” when considering matters that affect the future of offshore energy development.
Stivers is a long-time champion of energy independence. A column written by Stivers in 2011 explained his frustrations with rising gas prices and increasing dependency on foreign oil.
“The current unrest in the Middle East has yet again highlighted the importance of reducing our nation’s dependence on foreign oil,” Stivers said. “If we continue to kick the can down the road we will only deepen our difficulty in freeing ourselves.”
Stivers has cosponsored many pieces of legislation related to energy independence, including the Putting the Gulf Back to Work Act, the Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act and the Reversing President Obama’s Offshore Moratorium Act.