Oil and Gas Royalties

Congresswoman Maloney, a long-time critic of waste, fraud, and abuse in government programs, has battled Big Oil for nearly 15 years to ensure that taxpayers are paid their fair share of royalties from oil companies that drill on federal lands.

Maloney has been a leader in efforts to revise the Interior Department's oil-valuation rules. At her urging in 1997, the House Subcommittee on Government Management, Information and Technology held two hearings looking into the Minerals Management Service’s (MMS) royalty-collection efforts which were instrumental in getting MMS to re-write its oil-valuation rules. She also worked with the General Accounting Office and the House Resources Committee to bring about stronger oversight of MMS. Representative Maloney led the successful effort in 2000 to force oil companies to pay the federal government fair market value instead of lower “posted prices” set by the industry. Because of her advocacy and the efforts of other good government proponents, in the spring of 2000, the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service released its final oil valuation rule, which resulted in the federal government collecting millions more annually in oil and gas revenues.

Maloney has also been an outspoken critic of the deeply flawed Royalty-in-Kind program, which was established by the Bush Administration as a pilot program in 2001. The program would allow companies that extract oil and gas on federal lands to pay the government "in kind," with barrels of oil and natural gas, instead of in traditional cash payments, which would now cost the companies more under the 2000 oil valuation rule. As a member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Maloney helped to provide stringent oversight of the program from its first days until it was ultimately phased out by the Obama Administration in 2009.

Maloney continues to work for increased accuracy of royalties collected. She is the author of a bill to help ensure that the federal government uses the most accurate methods to collect royalties.

Timeline of Rep. Maloney's efforts and accomplishments

Legislation

06/21/2011 - H.R. 2260, Study of Ways to Improve the Accuracy of the Collection of Federal Oil, Condensate, and Natural Gas Royalties Act of 2011 [112th Congress]

01/12/07 - H.R.435, Study of Ways to Improve the Accuracy of the Collection of Federal Oil, Condensate, and Natural Gas Royalties Act of 2007

05/18/06 - H.AMDT.838, Maloney Amendment on Auditing Funding [109th Congress]

06/21/01 - H.AMDT.102, Maloney Amendment on Royalty-In-Kind Sales [107th Congress]

03/08/01 - H.R.962, Low Income Energy Reinvestment Act [107th Congress]

06/14/00 - H.AMDT.801, Maloney Amendment on Royalty-in-Kind Sales [106th Congress]

Documents/Reports

07/19/06 - Letter to the Minerals Management Service expressing concern with the MMS's methods for collecting royalties on oil and gas extractions

04/03/06 - Letter to the Minerals Management Service expressing concern about the auditing and compliance review processes for the States and Native American tribes

01/23/06 - Letter to Chairmen of the Government Reform and Resources Committees urging them to schedule hearings about whether or not oil and gas companies have been underpaying federal royalties on natural gas taken from federal lands and waters

01/23/06 - Letter to Chairmen of the Government Reform and Resources Committees urging them to schedule hearings and initiate investigations into whether or not oil and gas companies have been misreporting their earnings from oil and gas taken from federal lands at the expense of American taxpayers

09/21/04 - Letter to the Department of Interior opposing the proposed rule that the Minerals Management Service published on July 23, 2004, which would amend the existing regulations governing the valuation of gas for royalty purposes produced from Federal leases

Press Releases