Former auditors say U.S. is preventing recovery of oil-and-gas fees

[deminks]

Source: IHT

WASHINGTON: A former top auditor at the Interior Department has accused senior officials of prohibiting him and other investigators from recovering hundreds of millions of dollars in underpayments from oil and gas companies that drill on federal land and in federal waters.

"There's hundreds of millions of dollars, billions of dollars out there, and I don't think we should be scared of the oil companies," said Bobby Maxwell, a former senior auditor who, as a private citizen, sued Kerr-McGee, claiming that it had intentionally cheated the government of royalties for oil and gas it had produced in the Gulf of Mexico.

In February, a federal jury in Denver agreed with Maxwell and ruled that Kerr-McGee had underpaid the government by $7.5 million. Under a law intended to encourage whistle-blowers, the company could be liable for more than $30 million, and Maxwell would be entitled to keep as much as 30 percent of that.

"There were statements made: 'Don't bother the oil companies,' " Maxwell told the House Natural Resources Committee, which is investigating allegations of mismanagement in the royalty program run by the Minerals Management Service of the Interior Department.



Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/29/business/oil.php

[AndyA]

1. This is theft, any way you look at it.

The oil companies are using a public resource, and then not paying for the usage. And at the same time, earning obscene, record profits.

No doubt thanks to the Bush/Cheney Energy Policy.

Why is it we aren't impeaching them again?

[underpants]

2. Step 2

Step 1 empty the treasury
Step 2 raid the public trusts
Step 3 invade Iraq and get US military based in the Middle East

The rest is just division and hate. And EVERYTHING is political-no need for policy all of your KeepItSimpleStupid goals are listed above.

[IWantAChange]

3. Does oversight and raising the curtain provide a 'target rich' environment for Dem's or what??

:bounce: Sad thing is so much of this could have been avoided if we had honest elections.

[UpInArms]

4. everyone needs to read and re-read this paragraph:

Allred acknowledged that revenue generated by enforcement efforts had plunged since 2001, but he said that most of that decline came after about a dozen major oil companies made huge payments in earlier years to settle charges of cheating.

[Roland99]

5. I just can't wait until the Dems uncover the collusion between Big Oil and the US Gov't

gas prices have been fixed for years.

[gratuitous]

6. The country put two Texas oilmen in the White House

And we should definitely not be surprised that the oil companies are handed the keys to the federal treasury. If there is a creature walking God's green earth more despicable, more corrupt, and more selfish than a Texas oil man, I'm unaware of what it could be. The world's aggregate integrity level would shoot up overnight if we launched the whole kit and caboodle of them into space.

[tanyev]

7. Huh. They're not scared of the oil companies.

This is intentional payback.

[rainbow4321]

8. Judge overturns $7.6M verdict in Kerr-McGee royalties suit

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8O8K3SO0.html


A federal judge has overturned a jury's verdict that Kerr-McGee Corp. knowingly underpaid federal oil royalties by nearly $7.6 million, saying the government auditor who accused the company did not have the legal standing to file a lawsuit.

The verdict earlier this year determined that Kerr-McGee, which is owned by Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp., sold oil produced from the Gulf of Mexico at below-market prices to Houston-based Texon Corp. from 1999 to 2002.

Kerr-McGee asked U.S. District Judge Phillip Figa to reverse the verdict, renewing arguments it had made in a 2005 motion to dismiss the case. The company claimed that Maxwell did not qualify as a whistle-blower under federal law.

Figa initially disagreed in a June 2006 ruling, but in a ruling issued Friday, he said new arguments by Kerr-McGee and evidence developed during the trial changed his mind.