Interior scandal: It's snake oil (Seattle PI editorial board)

[struggle4progress]

... We're ticked off because the oil companies involved have discovered that in the Bush administration, Oil Rules. This is the atmosphere in Washington, D.C. Why play by the rules? Just cheat. It's worked so well for, what, the past seven-plus years.

Consider the numbers: The Interior Department managed about $4.3 billion in royalty-in-kind payments that were made by companies for drilling on federal lands. Now we have to wonder, what should the real number have been? It's clear that taxpayers did not get the best deal.

The Interior Department needs to follow up by cleaning house and prosecuting those who broke the law. There should also be penalties for the oil companies -- they should pay fines or be banned from future participation.

To think, these are the same folks selling the snake oil of more offshore oil development as the way to solve all our energy problems. Yeah, right, we really believe you're looking out for taxpayers or consumers.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/378799_Interiored.html

[sam sarrha]

1. they want to open a new find equaling about half the oil ever used, want to make money selling

selling it all to predator china.. and raise our prices at the same time turning us into a 3rd world country with our own resources that could save us and pay off the debt

we need to nationalize the oil production and sales in this country, regulate/ELIMINATE speculation

[trthnd4jstc]

2. A 50/50 split would be fair.

Actually the split probably is smaller:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=U.S._federal_oil_and_gas_royalties

"During most of the twentieth century, oil and gas companies generally paid between 12.5 and 16.7 percent in royalties for a lease to drill on public land or water."

Here is the link to Congresspedia's Homepage: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Congresspedia