REP. MIKE THOMPSON LEADS CALL AGAINST PRESIDENT’S PROPOSED CUTS TO LOCAL CLEAN ENERGY ROYALTIES

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) today announced that he led a bipartisan letter with Reps. Joe Heck (R-NV), Steve Pearce (R-NM), Jared Huffman (D-CA), John Garamendi (D-CA) and Juan Vargas (D-CA) calling on President Obama to protect local clean energy royalties from harmful budget cuts. The letter urged the President to not repeal the sharing of geothermal royalty payments with counties. Because of the high burdens that geothermal production places on the counties where it is developed, counties currently share in the revenue of the federal receipts. Revenue sharing was targeted for cuts in the President’s recently released Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 budget.

“When a community invests in developing geothermal energy, they deserve to get their fair share in returns on those investments,” said Thompson. “Stripping counties of these returns is a short sighted, fiscally irresponsible plan that will have no meaningful impact on deficit reduction. It will rob counties of the funds they depend on to pay for things such as public safety, road maintenance and law enforcement. I will work with my Republican and Democratic colleagues in both the House and Senate to make sure any budget passed by Congress doesn’t include the President’s proposed geothermal cuts.”

Geothermal revenue sharing was first started through the bipartisan Energy Policy Act of 2005. Congress decided that because of the high burdens geothermal production places on the counties where it is developed, the counties should share in the revenue.

Counties use geothermal revenues to pay for governmental services, such as road maintenance, public safety and law enforcement, and conservation easements. Many of the counties receiving revenue from geothermal receipts are small, rural counties facing uncertain budget situations. The loss of such revenue for these counties could result in the elimination or reduction of essential services.

Revenue sharing has also made counties vested partners in the continued development of geothermal energy – a clean, renewable, and domestic energy source that provides jobs in rural areas.

Ending this sharing would negatively impact counties while having no meaningful deficit reduction impact. Over a ten year period, revenue sharing accounts for less than one tenth of one percent of the federal debt.

In FY 2013, Lake County received more than $802,000 in geothermal royalties.

In FY 2013, Sonoma County received more than $1.1 million in geothermal royalties.

Congressman Mike Thompson is proud to represent California’s 5th Congressional District, which includes all or part of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma Counties. He is a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Rep. Thompson is also a member of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition and chairs the bipartisan, bicameral Congressional Wine Caucus.

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