[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 27]
[House]
[Pages 36191-36192]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE REFORM

  (Mr. BRALEY of Iowa asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my serious 
concerns that inadequate oversight, deficient procedures, and ethical 
lapses at the Department of Interior's Minerals Management Service 
(MMS) are costing the Federal Government millions of dollars each year.
  The MMS is responsible for negotiating, implementing and overseeing 
all Federal leases for resources removed by private companies from 
public lands, and it is supposed to be a guardian of our Nation's 
precious public resources.
  Unfortunately, evidence suggests that the cozy relationships between 
MMS officials and oil and gas companies have allowed these companies to 
underreport the resources they remove from Federal lands and underpay 
the royalties they owe to the Federal Government. Evidence that MMS has 
failed to detect and pursue these violations by oil and gas companies 
is especially troubling as gas prices continue to rise, corporations 
make record profits, and average Americans are struggling to fill their 
gas tanks and make ends meet.
  Most hard-working, taxpaying Americans would be outraged to know that 
these companies are cheating the Government out of these royalties 
which

[[Page 36192]]

are a critical source of revenue for the U.S. Treasury and which would 
allow us to invest in other priorities.

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