Wyden, Feinstein, Cantwell Urge Interior to Stop Protecting Energy Companies at Taxpayers’ Expense

Wyden says taxpayers should not shoulder the cost of poor decisions that protect profitable oil companies.

Photo courtesy: daryld.com

(WASHINGTON D.C.) - U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA.) today sent a letter to the Administration, calling on the Interior Department to stop protecting energy companies at the expense of American taxpayers.

In a recent New York Times article, it was reported that the Interior Department decided not to seek repayment of disputed amounts from Chevron Corporation identified by the Department’s own auditors. The consequences of this decision could cost the Treasury Department hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties from other energy companies drilling in federal lands and waters.

The following is the text of the letter sent today by Senators Wyden, Feinstein and Cantwell to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne:

“We continue to be dismayed that the Interior Department is abdicating its responsibility to collect royalty payments from the oil and gas industry producing on federal lands and waters.

First, we learn that the industry has signed leases with the Department in 1998 and 1999 that did not include a price threshold to ensure that royalties are paid at times of high oil and natural gas prices—costing the American taxpayers $10 billion over the next 20 years. The House of Representatives and the Senate Appropriations Committee approved an amendment to the Interior Appropriations bill requiring companies to either renegotiate their leases to include a price threshold or forfeit their opportunity to apply for new leases. We anticipate that this will remain in the final Interior Appropriations bill, and expect it to allow the Department to recoup the $10 billion owed to American taxpayers.