About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

EMD-82-67 1 (1982-03-19)

handle is hein.gao/gaobabdbf0001 and id is 1 raw text is: IIi'1t~~/ UNITED STATES GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON, D.C. 20548 ENERGY AND MINERALS DIVISION B-206772 The Honorable Jim Mattox The Honorable Wes Watkins The Honorable Frank Annunzio The Honorable William M. Brodhead The Honorable Martin Frost The Honorable Albert Gore, Jr. House of Representatives March 19, 1982 1 ji 1111111i ii1 117951 Subject: Effects of Increasing Filing Fees for Noncompetitive Onshore Oil and Gas Leases (EMD-82-67) This report responds to your letter of February 11, 1982, which asked us to examine the Department of the Interior's recent action increasing from $25 to $75 the fee charged to applicants filing for noncompetitive onshore oil and gas leases. l/ Basi- cally, Interior raised the fee to (1) reduce casual speculator (i.e., non-industry) involvement and multiple filings in the leas- ing program, thereby reducing fraud potential, development delays, and its administrative burden and (2) generate additional revenues. Due to the limited time available (it was agreed we would report on the matter by March 19), we did not perform an in-depth review of the subject. However, we were able to draw to some extent on our ongoing work dealing with industry and speculator activity on onshore oil and gas leases, on which a final report should be available later this spring. We also examined the Interior Department's analysis supporting the fee increase, spoke with Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and other Interior officials involved with its analysis, and with oil and gas leasing in gen- eral, contacted industry trade associations, and examined public comments on the proposed increase. Specifically, we considered --Interior's basis for establishing the higher filing fee, --the expected number of lease filings at the higher rate and its effect on revenues, and 1/The final rulemaking was filing fee will increase and for simultaneous oil crease from $1 to $3 per made effective February 19, 1982. The to $75 for all noncompetitive leases; and gas (SOG) leases, the rental will in- acre for the 6th through the 10th years. (008996) I, ~{ (i~

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most