Not only are oil companies gouging consumers at the gas pumps, but they're also cheating taxpayers out of royalty payments owed for the privilege of drilling on government-owned lands? How patriotic.
The Interior Department's Inspector General has reportedly asked the FBI and Justice Department to open criminal investigations. As scandal seeds sprouted, Director of the Interior Department's Bureau of Mineral Management Services Johnnie Burton announced her retirement.
State governments and Indian tribes to whom oil companies owe royalties have asked Mineral Management Services to perform audits. A spokesperson told the Washington Post, "We have asked them many times to do the auditing they are supposed to do. But they just stonewall."
Oil companies have a history of underpaying royalties. By 2001, fifteen oil companies paid a combined $438 million to settle Justice Department suits, including Exxon, Texaco, and Pennzoil. BuzzFlash has a good scandal analysis.
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