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[The] measure would give states more control by allowing governors and state legislatures to tell the U.S. secretary of the interior whether they want drilling within 125 miles of their shore.

This is a bad idea. The Federal moratorium needs to be ended and my State needs to be stripped of any ability to regulate oil production. We are hurting the rest of the nation with our stupid environmental laws. Our coast should be lined with rigs and we shouldn't get a single dime of revenue from them. We don't deserve that money after what we've done to the rest of you these past 25 years.

There are several funding acts in place where-by OCS royalties are granted to the states. The first one was 1965.

Even this new mechanism mentioned in the article where-by the coastal states would get half the royalty is not a new idea. This was proposed in CARA 2000 and CARA 2001. This bill was a very hot topic at FR back then.

As I recall, that would have been funded at 3 bil per year(or was it 7 bil per year?). It would have been split among the coastal and Great Lake States based on the formula of 25% based on miles of shoreline, 25% based on coastal population, and 50% based on the amount of oil production within 250 miles of a states shore line.

The interior states(who would not have recieved a dime) were able to block the bill and a compromise was reached that lasted for 5 years. This compromise will expire next year and that is why the subject is being raised again.