FOR RELEASE: January 26, 1995      CONTACT:  Michael L. Baugher
                                             (303)231-3162
                                             Thomas C. DeRocco 
                                             (202)208-3983

                38 STATES RECEIVE $537 MILLION 
         AS 1994 SHARE OF FEDERAL MINERAL REVENUES

    The U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management
Service (MMS) today announced that it had distributed more than
$537 million to 38 states last year.  The money represents the
states' cumulative share of 1994 revenues collected for mineral
extractions from federal lands located within their borders and
from federal offshore oil and gas tracts adjacent to their
shores. 

    The MMS is responsible for collecting, accounting for,
auditing and disbursing revenues associated with mineral leases
on federal and Indian lands. Disbursements are made to states on
a monthly basis, as bonuses, rents, royalties and other revenues
are collected. 

    "A state is entitled to a share of the mineral revenues
collected from federal lands located within that state's
boundaries," said Acting MMS Director Cynthia Quarterman. "For
the majority of federal lands, states and the federal government
share the revenues: 50 percent to the state, 40 percent to the
Reclamation Fund for water projects, and 10 percent to the U.S.
Treasury. One exception, Alaska, gets a 90-percent share, as
prescribed by the Alaska Statehood Act.

    "Certain coastal states with federal offshore tracts adjacent
to their seaward boundaries receive 27 percent of those mineral
royalties as well," Quarterman added. 

    Revenues were distributed to the following states:
Alabama        $8,824,925.32  Nebraska       $9,209.56 
Alaska         $5,176,389.10  Nevada         $9,472,279.62
Arizona        $82,919.96     New Mexico     $138,708,765.37 
Arkansas       $1,180,113.35  North Carolina $1,055.32
California     $26,239,271.91 North Dakota   $2,584,098.47
Colorado       $36,827,753.00 Ohio           $235,934.86
Florida        $78,939.86     Oklahoma       $1,978,780.52
Georgia        $46.49         Pennsylvania   $17,826.67
Idaho          $2,397,490.45  South Carolina $644.40
Illinois       $173,609.91    South Dakota   $392,867.62
Indiana        $98.42         Tennessee      $57.10    
Kansas         $999,116.46    Texas          $11,254,430.27
Kentucky       $67,825.84     Utah           $32,708,519.01
Louisiana      $15,079,097.73 Virginia       $112,944.42
Michigan       $911,520.01    Washington     $236,958.14
Minnesota      $16,016.41     West Virginia  $204,497.22
Mississippi    $784,904.46    Wisconsin      $583.87
Missouri       $703,817.74    Wyoming        $215,454,769.87

Montana        $24,637,234.41 Total          $537,604,268.18

     MMS is the federal agency that manages and regulates the
nation's natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the
Outer Continental Shelf, and collects and disburses revenues from
offshore federal mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases
on federal and Indian lands.

                                --MMS-RMP--