ROYALTY POLICY COMMITTEE MEETING SET FOR LAS VEGAS

The next Royalty Policy Committee meeting for the Minerals Management Service will be held Tuesday, March 12, at the Las Vegas Marriott Suites Hotel, 325 Convention Center Drive, Las Vegas, Nevada.

The committee will hear reports on records management, sodium, potassium, marginal properties, and coal.

Other topics of discussion will include an overview of Minerals Revenue Management’s role in the strategic petroleum reserve initiative, the Department’s strategic planning initiative, the President’s management reform initiative, and proposed energy legislation.

In addition to the session’s scheduled presentations, the committee will elect new officers, including chairman, vice-chairman and a parliamentarian.

The meeting, which is open to the public, is scheduled from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. If time permits, the public will be invited to make statements during the meeting and file written statements with the committee for consideration.

The Secretary of the Interior established the Royalty Policy Committee to provide advice on the Department's management of federal and Indian mineral leases, revenues and other policies related to mineral resources. Committee membership includes representatives from states, Indian Tribes and Indian allottee organizations, industry associations, the general public and other federal agencies.

To submit written comments, contact Gary Fields, MMS, Minerals Revenue Management, P.O. Box 25165, MS 300B3, Denver, CO 80225-0165. He may also be reached at (303) 231-3102, or fax (303) 231-3780.

MMS is the federal agency in the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages the nation's oil, natural gas and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf in federal offshore waters. The agency also collects, accounts for and disburses mineral revenues from federal and Indian leases. These revenues totaled nearly $10 billion in 2001 and more than $120 billion since the agency was created in 1982. Annually, nearly $1 billion from those revenues go into the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the acquisition and development of state and federal park and recreation lands.