Why wait for the courts

After all, it's only our money that the Interior Department seems to want to give to Chevron and other oil and natural gas companies.

Last month I wrote about the four cases four separate Interior Dept. auditors had initiated alleging that the department stopped their investigations into oil companies' fraudulent schemes to reduce their royalty payments to the government.

The case has not been decided, yet the appeals board of the Interior Department has ruled that the department should drop its claims to recover what is likely hundreds of millions - possibly billions - of dollars in underpaid royalties to you and me.The same set of facts have been sufficient for states to rake in over $70,000,000 from the companies.

Why the department did not wait for the courts to decide the issue is one question of many.