NOW on PBS had report on Oil & Gas royalty "relief" worth millions:

A very good show. Transcript link below. MOre Bush Bullshit. Saying one thing, doing the opposite. But no dress stains so MSM doesn't cover it!


http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/224/index.html

Back in 1995, Congress passed the Deep Water Royalty Relief Act that reduced the amount of royalties oil and gas companies had to pay. At the time, when gas prices were fairly low, the move was seen by many as an incentive to get petroleum companies to drill for oil and natural gas and keep energy production inside the United States.

Since then, a number of other royalty relief measures have been passed, such as the one included in the most recent energy bill, signed last summer, which increased the amount of oil that can be drilled without paying royalties.

Royalty relief under the 1995 act could cost taxpayers up to $80 billion over the next twenty-five years, depending upon the outcome of an industry lawsuit, according to a recent draft report by the Government Accountability Office. This includes a mistake by the government when drawing up some of the royalty agreements, which could cost $10 billion.

Who's following the money, and who's keeping it? Get ready for a crude awakening. Next time on NOW.


TRANSCRIPT:
http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/224.html
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HINOJOSA: And what has the White House been doing? President Bush has said several times that the industry doesn't need incentives to drill...

In fact, during the 2000 race, Bush criticized his opponent, Al Gore, for his support of royalty breaks for the industry.

BUSH: The price of natural gas is what is stimulating exploration, and the price of natural gas is pretty high now. In other words, my opponent is giving major oil companies a huge tax break.

HINOJOSA: And as recently as this past April, he said it again.

BUSH: "Congress has got to understand that these energy companies don't need unnecessary tax breaks..."

HINOJOSA: But critics charge the Bush Administration has actually handed out even more tax breaks to the oil and gas industry. In 2004, without having to go to Congress, then interior secretary Gale Norton added more royalty relief for the industry to drill for natural gas in shallow water too.

And Gambrell -- who worked under both the Clinton and the Bush administration -- says he noticed a remarkable shift in the Bush era. When he had to confront industry, he no longer had his bosses in his corner.

HINOJOSA: When you found that there were problems in the audits, and you saw that there -- they weren't paying what they should be paying, and you wanted to push the oil and gas companies to pay up, what would happen?

GAMBRELL: I would -- sometimes I would get -- get a call from my boss, who was talking to that oil and gas company, that oil and gas executive -- would contact my boss. And my boss would call me and say, "What are you doing? Why are you doing this? We don't want you -- pushing this issue on this oil and gas company."

HINOJOSA: They didn't want you pushing?

GAMBRELL: Uh-huh.

HINOJOSA: For the collection of royalties?

GAMBRELL: That's what I observed and what I felt.

HINOJOSA: And guess what -- the agency charged with collecting those royalties on our behalf is doing fewer audits.

DALEY: The Interior Department has dramatically scaled back its auditing of the oil and gas leases. They've cut in half the amount of money that they've spent on audits. That sends a clear signal to oil and gas company -- co -- companies that they can steal oil and gas.

HINOJOSA: And under the Bush Administration, says Gambrell, those audits were no longer very thorough.

GAMBRELL: They try to push a lot of short cuts in doing the audit process. In fact it became not even a -- no longer an audit process. It became almost a review, a simple review, and there wasn't really any audit any longer.

HINOJOSA: The interior department's royalty collection bureau -- called M.M.S. -- denies these charges and says the agency "maintains an aggressive and comprehensive audit program."

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