BATON ROUGE, La. — Desperate to fund programs that could rescue the disappearing Louisiana coast, Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco will attempt to force the federal government to share the money it gets from energy companies that drill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Energy companies pay more than $5 billion annually to the U.S. government for the right to mine the gulf for oil and natural gas. Louisiana's campaign, if successful, would be likely to send more than half a billion dollars each year to gulf states, which include some of the poorest in the nation.
Louisiana has tried repeatedly to win a share of lease payments and royalties. This time the stakes are higher.
If Blanco's proposal falls on deaf ears in Washington -- she hopes to discuss it with President Bush in February -- her aides say the state is prepared to begin rejecting new requests for drilling licenses. Blanco, a Democrat who took office in January, has urged other oil- and gas-producing states to join forces on the issue.
It is a hardball tactic that would land with a thud in the energy industry at a time when Bush is pushing to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign sources of oil by increasing domestic production. Louisiana is critical to that effort; a third of the oil and natural gas consumed in the U.S. comes ashore here.
Phil Flynn, an energy analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago, said the gulf was an important source of fuel, particularly natural gas. If Louisiana makes good on its threat, Flynn said, it could curtail domestic production -- increasing prices and, potentially, driving businesses overseas, where gas would be cheaper and more abundant.
"These people could hold the nation hostage," Flynn said. "Basically, I think it would be a very wise thing to give them their way."
The White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Energy Department referred calls to the Minerals Management Service, which oversees offshore oil and gas production. Gary Strasburg, a service spokesman, said he would not "speculate about anything that might happen in the future."
Blanco's proposal calls for the four states that line the central gulf -- Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama -- to earn a greater share of royalties and lease payments. Blanco recently sent letters to the governors of those states, but they have not decided whether to join her campaign. She has also asked Alaska, which could make money based on a similar profit-sharing measure there, to join in the effort.
