Money Spied Off a Vanishing Coastline

[Moloch]

BATON ROUGE, La. — Desperate to fund programs that could rescue the disappearing Louisiana coast, Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco will attempt to force the federal government to share the money it gets from energy companies that drill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Energy companies pay more than $5 billion annually to the U.S. government for the right to mine the gulf for oil and natural gas. Louisiana's campaign, if successful, would be likely to send more than half a billion dollars each year to gulf states, which include some of the poorest in the nation.

Louisiana has tried repeatedly to win a share of lease payments and royalties. This time the stakes are higher.

If Blanco's proposal falls on deaf ears in Washington — she hopes to discuss it with President Bush (news - web sites) in February — her aides say the state is prepared to begin rejecting new requests for drilling licenses. Blanco, a Democrat who took office in January, has urged other oil- and gas-producing states to join forces on the issue.

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