BIG IRISH
11-03-2006, 02:07 AM
U.S. Agency to Review Oil Royalties
In September, the inspector general of the Interior Department, Earl C. Devaney, told lawmakers that top Interior officials had encouraged a culture of cronyism, ethical lapses and poor management. “Short of crime, anything goes,” he testified.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 — The Government Accountability Office, the watchdog agency for Congress, is beginning a broad investigation into potential deficiencies in how the government collects billions of dollars in royalties from companies that produce oil and gas on federal territory. The inquiry is being done at the request of the Republican-led House Government Reform Committee.
“They don’t know how much oil is coming out of the ground,” said Representative Darrell E. Issa, Republican of California and chairman of the committee’s subcommittee on energy. “If an oil company were to give them the right number, they would take it. If they were to give them the wrong number, they would take it.”
The agency has been under fire since February for errors on offshore leases that could cost the government more than $7 billion over the next five years, as well as for its sluggish response.
Democratic lawmakers have argued for months that the Interior Department under President Bush has been devoted almost entirely to serving the oil and gas industry, at the expense of American taxpayers.
In September, the two lawmakers expressed anger that the Bush administration had decided it would not try to recover about $2 billion that had already been lost as a result of the flawed leases.
Somebody has already spent the $
The agency set off an initial round of investigations in February when it admitted that energy companies were likely to escape billions of dollars in royalties over the next five years because of mistakes in leases the government signed in the 1990s.
Four auditors responsible for scrutinizing royalties recently contended that their superiors blocked them from challenging millions of dollars in deliberate underpayments.
investigators will scrutinize a recent decision by the agency to drop claims that the Chevron Corporation had systematically underpaid the government for natural gas by inflating its costs for processing.
The mistakes were made during the Clinton administration, but were not disclosed for another six years. :lol
I just knew it was clinton's fault! :rolleyes
In September, the inspector general of the Interior Department, Earl C. Devaney, told lawmakers that top Interior officials had encouraged a culture of cronyism, ethical lapses and poor management. “Short of crime, anything goes,” he testified.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 — The Government Accountability Office, the watchdog agency for Congress, is beginning a broad investigation into potential deficiencies in how the government collects billions of dollars in royalties from companies that produce oil and gas on federal territory. The inquiry is being done at the request of the Republican-led House Government Reform Committee.
“They don’t know how much oil is coming out of the ground,” said Representative Darrell E. Issa, Republican of California and chairman of the committee’s subcommittee on energy. “If an oil company were to give them the right number, they would take it. If they were to give them the wrong number, they would take it.”
The agency has been under fire since February for errors on offshore leases that could cost the government more than $7 billion over the next five years, as well as for its sluggish response.
Democratic lawmakers have argued for months that the Interior Department under President Bush has been devoted almost entirely to serving the oil and gas industry, at the expense of American taxpayers.
In September, the two lawmakers expressed anger that the Bush administration had decided it would not try to recover about $2 billion that had already been lost as a result of the flawed leases.
Somebody has already spent the $
The agency set off an initial round of investigations in February when it admitted that energy companies were likely to escape billions of dollars in royalties over the next five years because of mistakes in leases the government signed in the 1990s.
Four auditors responsible for scrutinizing royalties recently contended that their superiors blocked them from challenging millions of dollars in deliberate underpayments.
investigators will scrutinize a recent decision by the agency to drop claims that the Chevron Corporation had systematically underpaid the government for natural gas by inflating its costs for processing.
The mistakes were made during the Clinton administration, but were not disclosed for another six years. :lol
I just knew it was clinton's fault! :rolleyes