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Article: The Dirt on Drilling
- Article from:
- Government Executive
- Article date:
- November 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright National Journal Group, Inc. Nov 2008. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Collecting oil and gas royalties from public land leases generates as much controversy as revenue.
Timing is everything. On Sept. 8, the Minerals Management Service released a report to Congress that showed taxpayers were getting significantly better value from the agency's in-kind collection of oil and gas royalties than from cash collections from energy companies drilling on public land or offshore.
"Fiscal year 2007 was a dynamic year for the RIK [royalty-in-kind] program," the report noted. That was an understatement. The next day, Interior Department Inspector General Earl Devaney released three reports documenting widespread misconduct, including contract rigging, improper sexual ...