spook of the ozarks

unapologetic liberal

Monday, February 13, 2006

Thieves

They've been reduced to looting:

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 — The federal government is on the verge of one of the biggest giveaways of oil and gas in American history, worth an estimated $7 billion over five years. New projections, buried in the Interior Department's just-published budget plan, anticipate that the government will let companies pump about $65 billion worth of oil and natural gas from federal territory over the next five years without paying any royalties to the government. Based on the administration figures, the government will give up more than $7 billion in payments between now and 2011. The companies are expected to get the largess, known as royalty relief, even though the administration assumes that oil prices will remain above $50 a barrel throughout that period.

They're gonna steal as much as they can before they go. Three more years.

1 Comments:

  • At 6:32 AM, Blogger Don Elkins said…

    Jeez, I'm glad someone else caught this yesterday...I had to rub my eyes. The kicker is that they "can't do anything about it" because they've already promised...you'll probably like the piece on the Lincoln Group running today...more people with their hands in the increasingly open federal cookie jar.

     

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