Under this legislation, the National Academy of Engineering would conduct a study analyzing methods that could greatly improve the accuracy of royalty collection on the production of oil, condensate and natural gas under leases of Federal onshore and offshore lands and onshore Indian Tribal lands.  With the completion of the study mandated by this new legislation, Congress, the Minerals Management Service, and the Bureau of Land Management would have a better understanding of changes that must be made to make the process more accurate and transparent.

“The House passed a vitally important part of royalty reform yesterday, and this bill represents another vital component of it,” said Maloney. “We will never know if American taxpayers are actually receiving their fair share if we don’t know that royalties are being collected accurately. There may be piles of money owed to taxpayers and Indian Tribes left on the table because we don’t accurately collect royalties."

Co-sponsors of the bill include: Reps. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and John Conyers (D-MI).

Background:

On May 7, 2006, The Washington Post (“Firms Harvesting Energy from Public Lands May Owe U.S.”) reported allegations that oil and gas companies are shortchanging American taxpayers on the royalties they pay to the federal government. Lawsuits have been filed alleging that energy companies are underpaying billions of dollars in natural gas and oil royalties to the Federal government and Tribes because the process for determining the value of oil and natural gas products in the United States may be subject to manipulation. 

In the 109th Congress, Maloney introduced this legislation as H.R. 6368.  http://maloney.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1248&Itemid=61

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