By Associated Press
Washington, DC – Congress has approved expanded offshore drilling that gives energy companies access to oil and natural gas deposits in a vast area once off limits in the Gulf of Mexico, with revenue shared by Alabama and three other Gulf Coast states. Republican Senators Jeff Sessions of Mobile and Richard Shelby of Tuscaloosa voted for the final bill approved Saturday that will allow Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas to share millions of dollars in royalties that would otherwise go to the federal government. The legislation awaiting President Bush's signature opens eight-point-three (M) million acres of Gulf waters 125 miles from the Florida Panhandle. Alabama and the three other states will split 37-and-a-half percent of future royalties. In a July analysis, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the four states would share an average of about 51 (M) million dollars per year from 2009 to 2016. Although the exact amount each state would receive is not yet clear, they will be assured at least 10 percent, or five-point-one (m) million dollars annually. For Alabama, that guarantee works out to less than one-third of one percent of this year's one-point-66 (B) billion General Fund budget. Alabama's drilling windfall could start arriving next year as new leases are negotiated.