In 2009 we collected about $9 billion in royalty payments from oil and gas companies working on federal land and water. That's a good piece of change. And it can and should be increased not by more drilling and extracting but by our improving our ability to collect what is due us.
The GAO and the Inspector General for the Interior have been telling us for years that Interior's system of collecting royalties is flawed. The GAO has not been able to figure out how much money we have lost as the record keeping of the Interior sucks. Part of the problem is due to the companies telling Interior how much they owe and Interior not being able to validate the amounts.
If Interior collected only 5% more, we'd have $450,000,000 in our pocket. Not exactly chickenfeed.
The GAO and the Inspector General for the Interior have been telling us for years that Interior's system of collecting royalties is flawed. The GAO has not been able to figure out how much money we have lost as the record keeping of the Interior sucks. Part of the problem is due to the companies telling Interior how much they owe and Interior not being able to validate the amounts.
If Interior collected only 5% more, we'd have $450,000,000 in our pocket. Not exactly chickenfeed.
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