“Just a week before the one-year anniversary of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, legislation that would greatly speed the pace of offshore drilling permitting has been approved by the Republican-led House Natural Resources Committee.
The bill would require the Interior Department to approve or deny permit applications within 60 days; after that period, permits would be granted automatically.”
“Even as leaders grapple with the nation’s fiscal troubles and urge expanded drilling for natural resources, their failure to remedy decades-old systemic shortcomings at the Interior Department may have allowed billions of dollars in royalties from oil and natural gas companies to slip away, increasing the burden on taxpayers.
By law, energy companies must pay one-sixth to one-eighth of the value of oil and gas obtained on public lands and in federal waters off the nation’s coasts. In practice, government auditors and Interior’s inspector general believe the industry is paying less than it legally should. Exactly how much less is anybody’s guess, but it is believed to be at least hundreds of millions — and possibly tens of billions of dollars.”
