The U.S. Department of the Interior notified states this week that it will return over $100 million in mineral royalty payments as a result of calls from lawmakers for states to be rightfully paid under the Mineral Leasing Act (MLA).
The Obama administration announced in March that it would withhold the money due to states because of sequestration. States have been told that as long as sequestration continues, they’ll get their mineral refunds one fiscal cycle late.
Western Caucus Co-Chair Steve Pearce called the Obama administration’s money grab “reckless and arbitrary.” He said the “handling of this issue has led to delays and uncertainty, and I hope they will not attempt to withhold our rightful share of these revenues again.”
Representative Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming said, “We all knew that taking Wyoming’s rightful share of mineral royalties was wrong from the start.” Lummis added, “Unfortunately, until we cut the middle man out of these transactions, we will always be vulnerable to the federal sharks swimming around Wyoming’s revenue.”
Western Caucus members are working on legislation that would amend the State Mineral Revenue Protection Act to streamline how mineral royalty payments are distributed — giving states the option to cut out the federal middleman and go directly to the producer.