U.S. Department of the Interior
Minerals Management Service
Office of Communications

NEWS RELEASE

36 STATES RECEIVE $467 MILLION IN FIRST NINE MONTHS
OF 1997 AS SHARE OF FEDERAL MINERAL REVENUES

The U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS) today announced that it had distributed more than $467 million to 36 states during the first nine months of 1997.

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 their shores.

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 as well. Remaining offshore revenues are deposited in special accounts of the U.S. Treasury, including the General Fund, the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the Historic Preservation Fund.

"The amount distributed during the first nine months of 1997 suggests that we will exceed the $528 million total for all of 1996," stated MMS Director Cynthia Quarterman.

-MMS-

MMS Internet website address: http://www.mms.gov
24 hour Fax-on-Demand Service:(202) 219-1703