Oil and Gas Royalties

Legislation | Documents/Reports | Links | Press Releases

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.

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 [1110th Congress]

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]

05/21/98 - H.R.3932, Federal Oil Royalty Protection Act of 1998 [105th Congress]

03/18/97 - H.R.1106, Royalty Settlement Reform Act of 1997 [105th Congress]

Documents

Timeline of Rep. Maloney's efforts and accomplishments

 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

11/10/03 - Letter to the Department of Interior opposing the proposed rule to amend the federal oil valuation regulations which went into effect in June 2000

09/09/03 - Letter to the Department of Interior expressing concern about the proposed rule which would amend existing regulations for the valuation of crude oil produced from federal leases

01/16/03 - Letter to the Department of Interior objecting to the full implementation of the Royalty-in-Kind program until solid data are available to show that the American taxpayers would be getting a fair deal under the system

More on Oil and Gas Royalties

Statement of the Honorable Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) On the Oil-Valuation Deal

Nov 16, 1999 Press Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- "According to published reports, an agreement has been reached under which the Interior Department's new oil-valuation rules will go into effect March 15th. If these reports are accurate, this deal represents a tremendous victory for the American taxpayer. This agreement will end the sweetheart deal which lets oil companies shortchange American schoolchildren, states, and Indian tribes of millions of dollars in royalty payments each year. This agreement shows that the days of big oil's dominance in the U.S. Capitol are coming to a long overdue end," Maloney stated.

STATEMENT BY CONGRESSWOMAN CAROLYN MALONEY ON THE PASSAGE OF THE HUTCHISON OIL ROYALTY AMENDMENT

Sep 23, 1999 Press Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- "I want to commend both Senator Durbin, Senator Feingold, and especially Senator Boxer for their hard work to defeat this special interest legislation in the Senate. I am outraged that their opponents in the US Senate continue to defend this inexcusable special interest rider. Their opponents are obviously more interested in protecting the greasy hands of big-oil special interests, than in giving America's schoolchildren the money they are entitled to."

STATEMENT BY CONGRESSWOMAN CAROLYN MALONEY (D-NY) ON THE DEFEAT OF THE HUTCHISON OIL ROYALTY AMENDMENT

Sep 13, 1999 Press Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- "Today's defeat in the Senate of the oil royalties rider proves once again that whenever we debate these issues out in the open, the tax payers always win. Whenever big-money, big-oil companies are able to do their dealings in backrooms, the tax payers always lose.

STATEMENT ISSUED FOLLOWING THE SENATE'S ADOPTION OF THE HUTCHISON AMENDMENT TO THE INTERIOR APPROPRIATIONS BILL

Sep 8, 1999 Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) issued the below statement following the Senate's adoption of the Hutchison Amendment to the Interior Appropriations Bill.

STATEMENT BY U.S. REP. CAROLYN MALONEY (D-NY)

Jul 27, 1999 Press Release
"I am pleased that the Senate has apparently decided to put the interests of American taxpayers, schoolchildren, and the environment ahead of big oil companies' profits. This action today proves what I have argued all along: that while big oil companies will try every tactic imaginable to avoid paying the royalties the owe, their slick backroom deals won't stand up to the light of day. It is clear that these companies couldn't face the public outrage that their slick deal had generated and had no choice but to give in."

REP. MALONEY INVESTIGATES INTERIOR ROYALTY SETTLEMENTS

Mar 13, 1997 Press Release
Washington, D.C.-- Today, Rep. Maloney requested a legal opinion from the General Accounting Office regarding whether or not the Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) had proper authorization to negotiate royalty settlements with major oil companies.  She also sent a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno asking for the Justice Department’s policy and role in these settlements.  Rep. Maloney has focused attention on two Interior Department negotiated settlements with Exxon and Chevron.  These settlements may have resolved more than $1 billion in outstanding claims for only $218 million.

MALONEY FINDS INTERIOR LACKED AUTHORITY ON $ BILLION SETTLEMENTS ANNOUNCES TWO REFORM BILLS

Jan 27, 1997 Press Release
Washington, D.C.-- Today, Rep. Maloney announced that the Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) may not have had proper authorization to negotiate royalty settlements with major oil companies containing more than a billion dollars in claims.  Maloney has sent a letter to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt containing a legal analysis questioning the authority of the Department.  Specifically, the letter states that MMS needed the Justice Department’s authorization to resolve settlements over $100,000, settlements which are printed in the Federal Register.  Furthermore, affected States and Indian tribes should have been parties to the negotiations, and since the settlements were in dispute, the Interior Department should have referred the matter to the General Accounting Office for resolution and instruction.

CONGRESSIONAL REPRT SLAMS INTERIOR'S UNPAID ROYALTY COLLECTION EFFORT

Sep 23, 1996 Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC--Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) announced the release of the Congressional report, “Crude Oil Valuation: The Ineffective Response of the Minerals Management Service.”  The House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight issued this report as a follow-up to a hearing of the Subcommittee on Government Management Information and Technology held on June 17, 1996.  Maloney is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee.  The report concludes that the Minerals Management Service has failed to aggressively collect hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid federal oil royalties.

MORE OIL ROYALTIES ARE OWED

Aug 5, 1996 Press Release

WASHINGTON, DC --  Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) announced today that many States are way ahead of the Federl government in collecting unpaid royalties.  The Project on Government Oversight in conjunction with Rep. Maloney released a report today which shows that, outside of California,  oil companies owe the American public between $400 million and $1.3 billion in unpaid oil royalties since 1985.

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