The US Department of the Interior formally established the US Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (USEITI), which identifies payments made by oil, gas, and mining companies to governments as part of a global effort to provide the public with accessible and comprehensive revenue data related to energy and mineral development.
The activation of USEITI’s data portal came 4 days after the US Securities and Exchange Commission reproposed a requirement under Section 1504 of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that would make such US firms publicly disclose payments to foreign governments (OGJ Online, Dec. 11, 2015).
USEITI also issued its first annual report, most of which is available online. It reports and details the $12.21 billion of resource revenue the federal government received in 2013.
“Providing data in an open and accessible format will empower citizens, inform public discussions, and expand the scope of future revenue reporting to ensure the American people receive a fair return for the extraction of oil, gas, minerals, and renewable energy on public lands and waters,” Interior Sec. Sally Jewell said.
“The report could not have been produced without support from industry and civil society, and it shines a spotlight on the value companies and the federal government receive for these valuable public resources,” she said.
The US made a commitment in 2011 to join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, a global organization that promotes voluntary disclosures by governments and companies of resource development payments. Participation in EITI would not put US oil and gas firms working outside the US at a competitive disadvantage as the proposed Dodd-Frank requirement could, the American Petroleum Institute and other US business groups have said.
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].
