States and Tribes to Get More Funds to Track Royalties Owed on Oil and Gas Extracted From Their Lands

States and Tribes to Get More Funds to Track Royalties Owed on Oil and Gas Extracted From Their Lands

At a time when oil and gas values are up and oil and gas companies are making record profits, Congress took action today that will help states and tribes ensure that royalties owed on resources taken from their lands are paid in full. Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and George Miller (D-CA) successfully amended the Interior Appropriations bill (H.R. 5386) to increase by $1 million the funds available for states and tribes to conduct auditing. Data has shown that for every $1 dollar spent auditing the royalties program, $5 in money that is owed to governments or tribes is returned to them.

"We've seen numerous press reports about oil and gas companies shortchanging the taxpayers in royalties that are owed for extracting oil and gas from public land, even though these companies are rolling in record profits," said Maloney. "We need to equip the states and tribes with ability to audit the royalty processes of oil and gas taken from their land, so that they are paid in full in this time of high oil and gas prices. I thank my colleague Rep. Miller for working with me on this, and I thank Rep. Taylor for accepting this amendment."

http://maloney.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1100&Itemid=61