U.S. Plans $7-Billion Royalty Windfall to Oil Companies

New York Times: The federal government is on the verge of one of the biggest giveaways of oil and gas in American history, worth an estimated $7 billion over five years.

New projections, buried in the Interior Department’s just-published budget plan, anticipate that the government will let companies pump about $65 billion worth of oil and natural gas from federal territory over the next five years without paying any royalties to the government.

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Truthdig says: It’s nice being an oil baron when two oilmen head the government.