Louisiana and its parishes will receive more than $109.9 million for coastal restoration and hurricane protection projects through the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA), the U.S. Department of Interior announced, though the funding dropped nearly 29.4% from the previous year.
For the fiscal year 2020, the federal government distributed some $249 million to the nation’s Gulf of Mexico offshore oil-producing states—Louisiana, Texas, Alabama and Mississippi, The News Star reports. The federal government gives the states and their subdivisions a set percentage of oil and gas revenue produced in the Gulf.
“Revenues from offshore oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico are the only consistent funding source for critical restoration and hurricane protection projects that help make our communities safer and stronger,” says Tyler Gray, president of the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, in a news release.
The federal fiscal year 2020 ran from Oct. 1, 2019, to Sept. 30, 2020—a period that includes the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. and a historic drop in oil prices.
The $249 million distributed to Gulf Coast states is decline of roughly $104 million from the previous year. For fiscal year 2019, the nation’s oil and gas revenues were more than $1 billion, triggering a cap on the disbursement to the states. Read the full story.
