FOR RELEASE: April 17, 1995                 CONTACT: Mike Baugher
                                                    (303)231-3162
                                                       Lee Scurry
                                                    (202)208-3983

              34 STATES RECEIVE $122 MILLION AS FIRST QUARTER
                 SHARE OF 1995 FEDERAL MINERAL REVENUES (#50029)

   The U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management
Service (MMS) today announced that it distributed more than $122
million to 34 states during the first three months of 1995.  The
money represents the states' cumulative share of revenues
collected for mineral production on federal lands located within
their borders and from federal offshore oil and gas tracts
adjacent to the state /federal water boundary. 

   The MMS is responsible for collecting, accounting for,
auditing and disbursing revenues associated with mineral leases
on federal and Indian lands. Disbursements are made to states on
a monthly basis, as bonuses, rents, royalties and other revenues
are collected. 

   A state is entitled to a share of the mineral revenues
collected from federal lands located within that state s
boundaries. For the majority of federal lands, states and the
federal government share the revenues: 50 percent to the state,
40 percent to the Reclamation Fund for water projects, and 10
percent to the U.S. Treasury. One exception, Alaska, gets a
90-percent share, as prescribed by the Alaska Statehood Act.

   Certain coastal states with federal offshore tracts adjacent
to their seaward boundaries receive 27 percent of those mineral
royalties.  The remaining 73 percent of revenues from federal
offshore leases is deposited in special accounts of the U.S.
Treasury, including the General Fund, the Land and Water
Conservation Fund, and the Historic Preservation Fund.

   In 1994, more than $537 million was distributed to 38 state
treasuries.  As of the first quarter of 1995, $122 million was
distributed to the following 34 states:
                             
AL ... $1,814,001.49  MI ... $225,298.25    PA ... $6,800.08  
AK ... $1,345,047.13  MS ... $116,311.91    SD ... $98,024.26  
AZ ... $11,801.02     MO ... $263,706.99    TN ... $57.46  
AR ... $195,986.04    MT ... $7,404,286.83  TX ... $1,956,859.50 
CA ... $8,192,932.30  NE ... $3,375.90      UT ... $5,819,097.69
CO ... $9,542,875.58  NV ... $1,477,747.13  VA ... $23,910.31
FL ... $10,097.00     NM ... $30,332,234.26 WA ... $99,070.82
ID ... $368,821.79    NC ... $185.13        WV ... $47,239.26    
IL ... $29,586.11     ND ... $485,036.38    WI ... $692.42
KS ... $270,019.12    OH ... $53,932.01     WY ... $49,968,159.76

KY ... $20,337.88     OK ... $492,557.25 
LA ... $2,048,067.02  OR ... $2,681.98   Total...$122,726,838.06 

   
                                                
     MMS is the federal agency that manages the nation's natural
gas, oil and other mineral resources on the OCS, and collects and
disburses about $4 billion yearly in revenues from offshore
federal mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases on federal
and Indian lands.

                          --MMS--
                                      
Subject: PR-4/17/95 Federal Mineral Revenues/34 States Receive
$122M as First Quarter Share of 1995 Federal Mineral Revenues
(#50029)