Interior Dept. criticized over unpaid royalties (Billions from Oil & Gas)

[zonkers]

Lawmakers say agency should collect as much as $2 billion from companies

WASHINGTON - Two congressmen said Tuesday it is absurd for the Interior Department not to demand royalties for oil that was pumped under flawed drilling leases.

“The money belongs to the federal government and must be collected,” Reps. Tom Davis, R-Va., and Darrell Issa, R-Calif., wrote in a letter to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne.

Davis, chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, and Issa, who heads the panel’s energy subcommittee, have been investigating circumstances surrounding a government mistake in leases issued in 1998-99 that allows oil companies to avoid royalty payments even if oil prices soar.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15017321/

[Moderator]

1. duplicate topic

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2532104