Mar. 11: The House Natural Resources Committee's Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee will hold a hearing to examine recent recommendations to improve the federal oil and gas royalty system at 10 a.m. in Longworth House Office Building Room 1334. Two panels of witnesses are scheduled. Department of the Interior Inspector General Earl E. Devaney, DOI Royalty Policy Committee Vice Chairman David Deal and Frank Rusco, acting natural resources and environment director at the Government Accountability Office, will testify first. They will be followed by C. Stephen Allred, DOI's assistant secretary for land and minerals management, US Minerals Management Services Director Randall B. Luthi; Larry Finfer, deputy director of DOI's policy analysis office; Linda Stiff, acting Internal Revenue Service commissioner, and Dennis Roller, royalty audit section manager in the North Dakota state auditor's office will be on the second panel.
Why it matters: Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick J. Rahall (D-W.Va.) has criticized federal oil and gas royalty collection and auditing practices. On Jan. 30, Interior Secretary Dirk A. Kempthorne ordered immediate implementation of mineral management reforms that can be carried out administratively after receiving the final report of an independent study panel five days earlier with more than 100 recommendations. The panel was formed in response to reports Devaney and Rusco issued criticizing royalty collections by MMS and the Bureau of Land Management. Subcommittee chairman Jim Costa (D-Calif.) will be in charge of the hearing, but Rahall could show up to ask several pointed questions.
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected]