The Royalty-In-Kind (RIK) program that POGO has long criticized and recommended abolishing may be coming to an end. According to The Hill, the Democratic staff of the House Natural Resources committee has crafted a bill to overhaul federal drilling rules that would alter royalty rates, shorten the duration of leases from 10 years to five, and move the leasing function out of the Minerals Management Service (MMS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) into an Office of Federal Energy and Minerals Leasing. I haven't seen the legislation yet, but this last proposal would also seem to address POGO's concern that MMS has an inherent conflict of interest since it is charged with both leasing federal lands for drilling and auditing these leases.
-- Mandy Smithberger
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