Protecting Louisiana’s Coast Could Get Financial Support from Offshore Wind Power | Louisiana

(Central Square) – Proposals to redirect royalties from marine renewable energy projects to coastal protection activities go to the Louisiana Senate for final passage.

Rep. Joseph Orgeron, R-Cut Off,’s proposals were unanimously approved by the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee. If the constitutional amendment is signed by Gov. Jeff Landry, it will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot.

House Bill 300 would introduce a constitutional amendment in a vote to redirect federal revenues from “generated from alternative or renewable energy sources on the Outer Continental Shelf, including wind energy, solar energy, tidal energy, wave energy, geothermal energy, and other alternative or renewable energy sources.”

A companion bill, House Bill 305, would mean that codify the transfer of federal royalties to the Coastal Protection Fund from the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act if approved by voters.

Orgeron says most of the funding for coastal restoration comes from the Deepwater Horizon accord, which ends in 2031 and new funding is needed. He also said that at this time, any offshore revenue will be split between the state’s General Fund (75%) and the remainder from the state’s mineral fund.

Last year, Orgeron introduced a similar bill that passed unanimously in the House but failed in the Senate.

Federal law would need to be changed to allow alternative energy revenues to be sent to Louisiana for coastal restoration. US Senator Bill Cassidy introduced the bill last year, the Coastal Economy and Ecosystems Reinvestment Act, which would send royalties to coastal states for alternative energy production.

U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise has a bill called Renewable Energy Zone Earnings Budgeting, which he has filed twice in the last two years.

The Fiscal budget of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Office for 2025 is $1.7 billion, with a total of 136 projects and 83 ongoing. Funding is provided by the federal Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act and state sources.