Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to the amendment. The Bureau of Land Management has only just begun the process of examining whether royalty rates and rentals for oil and gas leases on public lands should be increased. That process should be allowed to continue. GAO recently found that, based upon the results of a number of studies, the U.S. Government receives one of the lowest government takes, commonly understood to be the total revenue, as a percentage of the value of oil and natural gas produced in the entire world. For example, royalty rates on public land are at 12.5 percent, considerably less than the royalty rates even on State lands, which range from a low of 16.67 percent to 25 percent-plus. These low royalty rates cheat the American taxpayers and keep them from receiving a fair return for the extraction of their oil and gas resources. However, rental rates are even worse. To secure very valuable mineral rights, sometimes worth hundreds of millions of dollars, companies only have to bid a minimum, and I repeat, a minimum of $2 an acre upfront to win the lease and then $1.50 per acre each year to keep the lease. That is right, a rental of $1.50 per acre per year. This low price was last set by Congress in the 1980s and has not been adjusted since. This can and should change. Oil companies, some of which generate billions of dollars per quarter in profits, should pay their fair share to the American people for the development of the Nation's public resources.…”