Scandal Helping Big Oil Companies Hide Billions From Government at Taxpayer Expense

Buzz Flash has an interesting article about some strange goings on in regards to oil leases and royalties...

Corruption within the Department of Interior may have allowed oil companies to improperly save billions at the expense of the taxpayers. The Department’s Inspector General has already made at least two criminal referals to the FBI and the Justice Department, and Congressional Democrats have launched several investigations and introduced new legislation to fix the problem.

In a nutshell, oil companies leasing federal land to drill for oil are required to pay the government royalties based on a percentage of their sales. But under the Royalty-in-Kind program, the companies can pay in the form of oil and gas instead of cash. The problem is that oil prices have increased more than the value of the oil and gas royalty revenues being recieved, meaning that the oil companies are managing to withhold a growing amount of their profits from Uncle Sam.

You should really go read more...

These strange goings on, may explain why customs agent Darlene Fitzgerald, the author of Border Gate, was ordered to stop checking rail tankers after finding tons of Marijuana in one coming across our southern border. Something is very fishy and I hope we get to the bottom of this, regardless who is responsible, because this is down right criminal and as usually we the people are getting hosed. It appears this scandal has spanned the Clinton and Bush administration, so it remains to be seen how Congress will handle this one. I mean will they be aggressive if they cannot dump it only on President Bush? Will the democrat controlled congress expose Bill Clinton's administration if they are also guilty?

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