The Times-Picayune (New Orleans) is reporting that Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana is begging her colleagues in the House of Representatives to oppose Nancy Pelosi’s new no-energy bill.  Why?  It’s simple.  The bill would do more to keep the U.S. from drilling offshore than to encourage drilling.

Sen. Landrieu (D-LA) opposes the bill because it gives every last dime of revenue from new offshore oil leases to the federal government.  What state is going to authorize drilling off their cost when all of the oil revenue goes straight to Washington–especially when Gulf states like Texas and Louisiana are already getting a slice of the revenue from their offshore drilling?  Not a single one.

Sen. Landrieu makes a good point.  This bill is a non-starter if it steals much-needed oil revenue from coastal states like North Carolina.  How much money would this bill steal?  According to the Virginian-Pilot, it would cost the state of Virginia $200 million a year in lost revenue.  We can’t afford a bill that one paper called “a heaping dose of political cover” that will rob North Carolina of millions and millions of dollars.