Fiscal Accountability of the Nation's Energy Resources

Comments were presented on a report of the Commission on Fiscal Accountability of the Nation's Energy Resources on oil and gas royalty accounting. The Commission made a thorough examination of the royalty management problems and concluded that royalty accounting is in complete disarray. In its report, the Commission made over 60 recommendations to improve the royalty collection system and called for fundamental changes in the organization and direction of royalty management. The Commission addressed the need to: (1) improve internal controls to assure that all royalties are collected; (2) improve lease security to preclude the theft of oil from Federal and Indian lands; (3) increase lease inspections and impose sanctions for lease violations; (4) share information and royalty management functions with the States and Indians; and (5) remove royalty management from the Geological Survey and establish it as a separate entity under the Secretary of the Interior.