ENERGY COMPANIES CHEATED NEW YORK ON ROYALTIES, WHAT ABOUT TANZANIA?

[stephen msechu]

Dear Comrades,

 

It is a high time we open our eyes 24 hrs, 7 days a week on our natural resource coz these FDIs do not give a dem. If they can cheat U.S. with all its sophisticated institutions and watch dogs, what about Tanzania with its poor institutions and CSOs?

 

Here is a piece for your digestion!

 

Despite Whistleblowers, Energy Companies Cheat U.S. on Royalties

By Patrick Corcoran on April 18, 2011 in News & Notes,Whistleblowers | No Comments

Whistleblowers have helped authorities collect more than a half-billion dollars since 2000 from energy companies that underpaid the royalties they owed for drilling on federal lands or in U.S. coastal waters.
But, as the Center for Public Integrity’s iWatch News reports, [1] the amount of unpaid royalties is thought to be far greater, and federal efforts to gather the government’s due share have been hampered by a shoddy collection regime.
The problem stems in large part from the Interior Department’s reliance on voluntary disclosures from companies regarding pricing and revenue information. This, in turn, means that the government learns about unpaid money only through whistleblowers, who have been responsible for 19 settlements with companies regarding unpaid royalties since 2000. While the whistleblowers are a valuable resource, the dependence on them means that the agency has no way of generating investigations without the goodwill of an industry insider.
In theory, oil companies must pay the government between one-sixth and one-eighth of all revenues derived from oil and gas taken from public lands or from federal waters along the nation’s coastlines. But such is the lack of independent knowledge that government officials are unable to estimate how much they are owed, though some say it could be in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
“It’s outrageous that even during a fiscal crisis, Interior fails to pursue taxpayers’ fair share of royalties,” said Mandy Smithberger, an investigator for the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight.
Some within the government acknowledge the lack of progress on the issue. “This is something that is a struggle for us,” said Franklin Rusco, the director of the Government Accountability Office’s natural resources and environmental investigation unit. “Interior can’t provide reasonable assurance that it is collecting all the royalties that it should.”
Congress and the GAO have long urged the Interior Department to establish outside information sources to verify companies’ claims and monitor their activity on federal lands. However, perennially hampered by a lack of staff and resources, Interior is typically behind the curve.

 

Printed from FairWarning.org: http://www.fairwarning.org/2011/04/despite-whistleblowers-energy-companies-cheat-u-s-on-royalties/ 
--
Stephen W. Msechu,
Program Officer,

Agenda Participation 2000

P. O. Box 55756,
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
+255 713 282263.

www.msechustephen.blogspot.com

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