Southern governors push for more gulf oil revenue

Alabama’s and Mississippi’s governors received no commitment today from Obama administration officials after they pressed for Gulf Coast states’ getting a larger share of money from gulf oil wells to help cover the risk of spills. But they were told that some drilling rigs might be allowed to return to work before a moratorium on deepwater drilling ends Nov. 30. Alabama Gov. Bob Riley and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour used the Southern Governors’ Association convention in suburban Birmingham to press the funding issue with two officials of the Obama administration: senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and Assistant Secretary of the Interior Wilma Lewis. Riley says states should share in more of the federal revenue because the massive BP oil spill was a wake-up call about what could happen to the states’ economies. “I’m not sure any of the Gulf Coast states had any idea of the risk we were taking,” Riley says. Gulf Coast states get a small share of the revenue from federal leases for gulf oil wells and are scheduled to get more in 2017, but state officials are supporting bills in Congress that would accelerate that timetable to 2010. Such a change would mean millions for Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. Barbour and Riley also complained about a lack of information about the administration’s recovery plan for the region, headed by former Mississippi Gov. Ray Mabus. Jarrett says the structure of the recovery plan will be shaped with input from state and local officials and will be unveiled in the fall.