U.S. Senator Ken Salazar

Member: Finance, Agriculture, Energy, Ethics and Aging Committees

 

2300 15th Street, Suite 450 Denver, CO 80202 | 702 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510

 

 

For Immediate Release

Wednesday , March 12, 2008

CONTACT:Stephanie Valencia – 202-494-8790
Cody Wertz – 303-350-0032

Sen. Salazar Supports Amendment to Ensure that Colorado Gets Its Fair Share of Mineral Leasing Revenues

 

WASHINGTON, DC –To ensure that Colorado and other states get their fair share of mineral leasing revenues, today United States Senator Ken Salazar co-sponsored an amendment to the budget resolution with Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) that would create a deficit neutral reserve fund that will aid in reversing the Administration’s unilateral reduction in payments to States from mineral revenues generated on Federal lands.

This amendment will create room in the budget for Congress to repeal language slipped into the omnibus spending bill at the request of the Bush Administration late last year, which reduced the state share of mineral leasing revenues from fifty percent to forty eight percent. The Bush Administration provision takes the two percent of Mineral Leasing Act royalties from states to pay for administrative priorities.

“Restoring the funds that the Bush Administration is attempting to pilfer from our state is a primary goal of mine,” said Senator Salazar. “This is an issue that goes beyond Colorado and impacts several states that depend on mineral leasing revenues. I have worked and will continue to work to equalize this split between the state and federal government and to ensure that Colorado receives its fair share of revenue.”

Senator Salazar, along with Reps. John Salazar and Mark Udall have introduced legislation to this end. Their bill would repeal the Administration provision, which reduces the states’ share of mineral leasing revenues by two percent and would restore the states’ share to its full, co-equal 50 percent of mineral leasing revenues. The Salazar-Udall-Salazar legislation is available by clicking here.

In late January, Senator Salazar also joined with several of his Republican and Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate to urge the Administration to ensure states receive a fifty percent share of mineral leasing activities on public lands and not include the provision in the Administration’s budget proposal for FY 2009.

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