[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 18 (Tuesday, February 14, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E144]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 INTRODUCTION OF THE ROYALTY RELIEF FOR AMERICAN CONSUMERS ACT OF 2006

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. EDWARD J. MARKEY

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 14, 2006

  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, the American people expect their leaders to 
articulate a vision and a comprehensive strategy for America's energy 
future. They expect us to be focused on reducing the high energy costs 
to American consumers and completely eliminating our dependence on 
expensive and volatile Middle Eastern oil. In contrast, several weeks 
ago the New York Times released an investigative report revealing that 
payments made by energy companies are not keeping up with the 
skyrocketing cost of energy. Today, the Times, revealed that big oil 
companies stand to receive future royalty giveaways from the Bush 
administration of nearly $7 billion. This royalty relief for Exxon 
Mobil, BP, and Chevron Texaco comes at a time when consumers are paying 
record high energy prices.
  It is time to start providing royalty relief to the American public, 
and to end it for multinational energy companies that just made more 
profit in one year than any industry in modern history.
  Today, Representatives Maloney, Miller, Waxman, Emanuel, Inslee, 
Pallone, Grijalva and I are introducing the ``Royalty Relief for 
American Consumers Act of 2006'' to ensure that the taxpayers will 
receive the billions of dollars in royalty payments they are owed by 
the big oil companies as payment to drill on public land. Our 
legislation would prohibit royalty relief on any future oil and gas 
leases, call for a renegotiation of current leases, and prohibit the 
purchasing of new leases by those companies that refuse to renegotiate.
  Oil companies pay a fraction of the value of the oil and gas produced 
on federal land as a royalty to the Federal Government. However, on 
Valentine's Day, we have learned of yet another sweetheart deal that 
the administration is giving to big oil. Across the country, Americans 
can't afford roses and chocolates because they are getting squeezed at 
the pump for every last nickel and dime they have--meanwhile the Bush 
administration is giving its sweethearts in the oil industry $7 billion 
that rightfully belongs to America's taxpayers.
  In the 1990's and again last year, the Republican Congress voted to 
suspend royalty payments by oil and gas companies for oil and gas 
produced in Federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico.
  Now, the President's own budget directs the Department of the 
Interior to allow companies to pump nearly $65 billion worth of oil and 
natural gas without paying royalties. Apparently the administration 
doesn't feel that the record profits being reported by Exxon Mobil and 
the other big oil companies are high enough. The Bush policy of 
subsidizing wealthy oil companies has proven to be wildly effective in 
boosting oil company profits, but it continues to harm American 
consumers. It is time for this administration to stop letting oil 
companies make the greatest profits we have ever seen in the history of 
the world while not paying their bills to the American public.
  The ``Royalty Relief for American Consumers Act of 2006'' will ensure 
that the American taxpayers receive the money they are owed by the oil 
companies in the future. Our legislation will help reverse the Bush 
administration's policy to ``Leave No Oil Company Behind'' and instead 
provide relief to the American consumers who are currently footing the 
bill.

                          ____________________