House hearing focuses on COVID-19 royalty breaks to energy companies

House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources: Interior’s Royalty Cuts: Thoughtful Policy or Industry Giveaway? – October 6, 2020

Interior’s Royalty Cuts: Thoughtful Policy or Industry Giveaway?

Tuesday, October 6, 2020

Indianz.Com

On Tuesday, the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources will hold a hearing titled “Interior’s Royalty Cuts: Thoughtful Policy or Industry Giveaway?”

The hearing will focus on the royalty cuts the Trump administration has offered oil and gas drillers and mining corporations during the coronavirus pandemic. Across the west, the Bureau of Land Management has issued hundreds of royalty cuts covering thousands of acres of public land, otherwise depriving taxpayers of millions of dollars in financial benefits.

At the request of Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Arizona), the chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has reviewed royalty relief applications and approvals, interviewed BLM officials in western state offices, and interviewed Department of the Interior officials in Washington, D.C., over the last several months. GAO will present the findings of the review at the hearing.

The hearing will be broadcast at 2pm Eastern on YouTube and on Facebook.

Witness List

Mr. Frank Rusco
Director, Natural Resources and Environment
U.S. Government Accountability Office
Washington, D.C.

Prof. Mark Squillace
Raphael J. Moses Professor of Law
University of Colorado Law School
Boulder, Colorado

Mr. Jayson O’Neill
Director
Western Values Project
Helena, Montana

House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources Notice

Interior’s Royalty Cuts: Thoughtful Policy or Industry Giveaway? (October 6, 2020)