Illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios
Offshore wind backers — including key Republicans — are revamping their push to get a bipartisan revenue-sharing bill across the finish line, possibly via the GOP reconciliation bill.
Why it matters: The RISEE Act could give states some incentive to support offshore wind development at a time that the industry is struggling in the U.S. with supply chain issues and President Trump's executive order to halt leasing.
Driving the news: Rep. Randy Weber, the lead GOP cosponsor in the House, and his staff are exploring avenues to get the bill into the reconciliation or must-pass legislative mix, he told Axios.
- "There's a lot of discussion about it," Weber said.
- Senate Energy and Natural Resources marked up the RISEE Act late last year, and it was on the table during the lame-duck legislative blitz.
- "We are in regular communication [with the House], with the CR and reconciliation as two possible options," lead Senate sponsor Sheldon Whitehouse told Axios.
Zoom in: Currently, offshore wind revenue goes primarily to the federal Treasury.
- RISEE would change that by sending 37.5% of the revenue to nearby states and 12.5% to the National Oceans and Coastal Security Fund.
- It would also lift state revenue sharing caps for offshore oil and gas development.
- That's helped attract support on both sides of the Hill from a big group of East and Gulf Coast lawmakers.
Yes, but: Trump's blanket opposition to wind, particularly the offshore variety, is an obvious impediment to doing anything the industry wants.
- Offshore wind has detractors among the House GOP, including New Jersey Republicans who helped Trump draw up the executive order.
- The RISEE Act also has a price tag for the federal government, given it would divert revenue that would otherwise go to Treasury.
- That could make it a difficult pitch when Republicans are already struggling to pay for reconciliation.
Still, House Republicans have supported something like this before.
- H.R. 1, their massive energy bill from the last Congress, would have set up a similar state revenue sharing system for offshore wind.
- The top two House GOP leaders, of course, hail from Louisiana, among the country's most prominent offshore energy states.
- "This bill includes my language to increase our state's share of offshore drilling revenues and, for the first time ever, would create a framework for our state to receive revenue from any future offshore wind energy projects in the Gulf," Majority Leader Steve Scalise said in a statement when H.R. 1 passed in 2023.
