Bingaman on Royalty Report
April 13, 2007
07:31 AM
Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
On GAO’s Royalty Report
April 12, 2007
In January of last year, Chairman Bingaman asked the Government Accountability Office to review and analyze the adequacy of the royalty accounting and collection process for oil and gas produced from public lands, both onshore and offshore. He specifically requested that GAO look at the problems with the Deep Water Royalty Relief Program. Twenty-one other Senators and Members of the House of Representatives joined Bingaman in that request. Today, a copy of the report that details the issue of undercollections for deep water royalties was delivered to the Senate Energy Committee.
Chairman Bingaman: “I have received the Comptroller General’s report on the serious problems regarding the deep water royalty relief program and the billions of dollars in undercollections. I think it is extremely useful to have the GAO’s report in hand as we craft legislation to address this problem. My fundamental goal in moving ahead on this serious matter is to recover the lost funds. I plan to carefully review the report and will soon introduce legislation that builds on GAO’s recommendations.”
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