BIG Government and Big Business Partners in CRIME
US report says oil royalties go unpaid
06-12-06 An eight-month investigation by the Interior Department’s chief watchdog has found pervasive problems in the government’s program for ensuring that companies pay the royalties they owe on billions of dollars of oil and gas pumped on federal land and in coastal waters.
In a scathing report to Congress, the Interior Department’s inspector general says the agency’s data are often inaccurate, that its officials rely too heavily on statements by oil companies rather than actual records and that only about 9 % of all oil and gas leases are being reviewed. More....
