A push to land nearly $2 billion for coastal restoration in Louisiana through higher royalty payments has failed for the year, U. S. Sen. Bill Cassidy said Tuesday.
“This is extremely frustrating because it was not just about Louisiana but about every coastal community,” Cassidy told reporters.
Cassidy and U. S. Sen. John Kennedy, R-Madisonville, have pushed to get a proposal added to an omnibus spending that Congress has to pass this week to keep government operating.
The bill, called the Reinvesting in Shoreline Economies and Ecosystem System Act of 2022, would lift the cap on royalty payments Louisiana and other states for energy production in federal waters.
The state got $156 million in 2020, which was split between state and parish governments.
Cassidy said the bill that he hoped to get added to the spending measure would allocate $1.9 billion to Louisiana over 10 years.
The Baton Rouge Republican said backers were peppered with questions on how the the new formula would be financed.
He said supporters offered a two-year rollout instead of putting it in place for a decade.
“That didn’t work,” Cassidy said.
“They kept moving the goalposts. For some reason they didn’t want this to pass. This is chaos by design.”
Check back with The Advocate for more details.
