Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton announced Tuesday that 36 states shared more than $1 billion dollars in revenues collected in 2003 from mineral production on federal lands located within their borders, as well as federal offshore oil and gas tracts adjacent to their shores. The Secretary says responsible energy production contributes to state and local governments.

“For the most part this will help fund schools and overall government expenses. The money is available for the ways that the states decide that they want to use it.”

States that produce energy on federal lands are entitled to 50 percent of federal revenues collected from that production. Many of those acres belong to the Department of the Interior.

“The department of the interior has responsibility for one out of every five acres of land in the United States. We produce a third of the nation’s oil, natural gas and coal.”

The nearly $1.1 billion distributed to states during 2003, was nearly 46 percent more than 2002 payments to states that totaled $753 million. Ron Tull, Interior Department Radio News Service, Washington.