Congress, Whistleblower Give Big Oil a "Royal (ty) Pain"
Friday, January 19, 2007
It's been a week of big headaches for big oil, but possible relief for the public. The price of crude is falling, and yesterday the Department of Interior's internal watchdog publicly reported mismanagement at the DOI, where senior officials of the Minerals Management Service were notified of a loophole that would allow oil companies to skip out on billions in royalties, but failed to address the problem. Beth Daley with the Project on Government Oversight says real oversight is needed.
"The federal government is operating under an honor system where we get royalties based simply on whatever the oil industry wants to give us."
Here in Colorado, a trial began this week involving a Department of Interior auditor who filed a civil suit after being told not to collect legal oil royalties from Oklahoma-based Kerr McGee. Daley argues the agency needs to fix its process for auditing oil leases.
"I think we're talking about an agency that is captured by the oil industry and fails to think first about the American taxpayer."
The House voted late yesterday to repeal billions of dollars in tax breaks and subsidies for the oil industry. The bill now goes on to the Senate.
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