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Wyoming lawmakers are once again advancing legislation to prop up the oil and gas industry. Last Thursday, legislators on the Select Federal Natural Resources Management Committee unanimously passed a proposal that would reimburse oil and gas companies for the cost of any increased royalties for drilling on national public lands. Under the proposal, regulators would write checks to oil and gas companies "equal to" any federal royalty increases using funds from state taxes on fossil fuel production, then backfill those funds with royalties the state receives for drilling on federal lands.
The move comes as the Interior Department is considering raising the rate charged for producing oil and gas on public lands, a rate that has remained unchanged for more than a century at a level far below those charged by most Western states. In recent years, multiple analyses, including a 2017 report by the Government Accountability Office, have found that raising oil and gas royalty rates would generate substantially more revenue for taxpayers, while having a negligible impact on production.
While increased revenues from higher royalty rates would benefit states around the West by providing funding for schools and much-needed infrastructure, it seems Wyoming legislators are more concerned with returning those revenues directly to oil industry bank accounts.
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Could it be that the people who make money selling gas want to keep us all hooked on gas?”
