$7.5 Billion - royalties that the United States Treasury receives annually from oil and gas produced from the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) are second only to IRS revenue. Of this, $5 Billion comes from offshore Louisiana - of which Louisiana received virtually nothing until an OCS revenue-sharing bill was passed and signed into law in December 2006. The nation’s energy security requires long-term early investments in the Gulf Coast, by reinvesting revenues produced off our coastline as well as reauthorization of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA).
• 1/3 of oil and gas production comes across the coast of Louisiana -
the proportion will increase with the new Chevron find.
• 30% of all seafood consumed in the U.S. comes from the waters of Louisiana.
• #1 Port - The Port of New Orleans is the largest by tonnage in the U.S.; five of the country’s 15 largest ports are in Louisiana. New Orleans tonnage has increased by 4% over its pre-Katrina levels.
...BUT LOUISIANA IS WASHING AWAY
• One football field of land is lost every 50 minutes.
• Since the 1930s, an area the size of Delaware - 2,000 square miles of wetlands - has been lost .
• 200 square miles of marshland became open water as a result of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina in Southeast Louisiana.
• Every 2.7 to 4 miles of lost marsh correlates to a one-foot rise in storm surge.
• Two million people are now more vulnerable because wetlands have disappeared.
• Homeland security is a prominent issue when thousands of miles of pipeline become exposed due to lost marsh.
