Gregory Laughlin: “this bill should be noncontroversial. It corrects and updates accounting practices for Federal oil and gas royalty…”

“this bill should be noncontroversial. It corrects and updates accounting practices for Federal oil and gas royalty collections. After more than 1 year of intense detailed negotiations we have an agreement on the legislative language before us today. Many Republicans and many democrats, in fact, 50 House Democrats, have signed a letter of support. The President of the United States, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Energy and 14 Governors, as the gentleman from Alaska [Mr. Young] read to us. This is a bill that has national impact because when we look at the map to my immediate left we can see all but about 10 of our States colored in red. Those States colored in red are those States with Federal oil and gas leases. The President of the United States has sent a letter stating strong support for enactment of H.R. 1975. In fact the Clinton Gore campaign has sent a letter signed by Ann Lewis, Deputy Campaign Manager, stating the legislation simplifies the royalty collection process for onshore and offshore natural gas and oil production. She says in her letter: The President supports it because he believes that it provides fairer rules governing the relationship between the Federal Government and leaseholders on Federal lands. Getting all these people to agree was not easy.…”