On the recordFebruary 18, 2011
Contrary to what the gentleman from Massachusetts just said, while this happened in 1995, it was not the Republican Congress. It was the Clinton administration and a result of the oil leases that were made under the Department of the Interior at the time and the Clinton administration. If this amendment passed, companies with existing Deepwater Royalty Relief Act leases would be required to renegotiate lease terms with DOI to include price thresholds before getting new leases. Companies with Deepwater Royalty Relief Act leases have been successful multiple times in court challenging Interior's authority to include price thresholds in the lease agreements. DOI has lost at the district court, the appellate court, and the Supreme Court. The Secretary does not have the authority to include price thresholds on these leases. The problem stems from language included in the Deepwater Royalty Relief Act itself and the regulations promulgated to implement the act that did not address or require Interior to include price thresholds in the Deepwater Royalty Relief Act leases. In addition, forcing companies to renegotiate the leases would be a violation of contract law and would be challenged in court. This would only cost us millions of dollars more. This would hinder our leasing ability, reducing revenues to the Federal Government, not increasing revenues to the government, as it limits the pool of potential leases. I reserve the balance of my time.
