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The NewsRoom
Release: #3581
Date: November 14,
2006
Allred Announces New Panel to
Review MMS Mineral Leasing Program
WASHINGTON –
Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Land and Minerals
Management C. Stephen Allred today announced the formation
of an independent panel to review and provide advice to the
department on aspects of mineral revenue collection from
federal and Indian lands.
The new panel will operate under the auspices
of the Royalty Policy Committee, an independent advisory
board appointed by the Interior Secretary to advise the
Minerals Management Service on royalty management issues and
other mineral-related policies.
“Recently there has been much interest
regarding the accuracy and effectiveness of the Minerals
Revenue Management program within the Minerals Management
Service,” Allred wrote in a letter to incoming Royalty
Policy Committee Chairman Daniel Riemer. “We have decided
that a review of the procedures and processes surrounding
management of mineral revenue at the Department of Interior
is in order.”
Specifically, Allred asked the new panel,
called the Subcommittee on Royalty Management, to review:
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The extent
to which existing procedures and processes for reporting
and accounting for federal and Indian mineral revenues
are sufficient to ensure that the Minerals Management
Service receives the correct amount.
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The audit,
compliance and enforcement procedures and processes of
the Minerals Management Service to determine if they are
adequate to ensure that mineral companies are complying
with existing statutes, lease terms, and regulations as
they pertain to payment of royalties.
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The
operations of the Royalty in Kind program to ensure that
adequate policies, procedures and controls are in place
to ensure that decisions to take federal oil and gas
royalties in kind result in net benefits to the American
people.
“The Department of the Interior is charged
with providing the public with a fair market return on
mineral resources extracted from federal and Indian lands,”
Allred said. “We are committed to ensuring our processes
are effective and transparent.”
The subcommittee will conduct its review over
a six-month period and then provide its final findings and
recommendations to the full Royalty Policy Committee and the
Secretary of the Interior.
Members of the subcommittee will be announced
in the near future.
Relevant Web
Site:
MMS
Main Website
Media Contact:
Gary Strasburg
202/208-3985
Patrick Etchart
303/231-3162
MMS:
Securing Ocean Energy & Economic Value for
America
U.S. Department
of the Interior
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