In keeping with a developing theme of catering to industry and special interests at the expense of taxpayers, the Trump administration announced today that it will be reducing the royalties collected from companies drilling and mining on federal lands. It’s a decision in direct opposition to the royalty revenue increases Taxpayers has long called for. The current administration will repeal an existing Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) rule that was meant to prevent companies from undervaluing oil, gas, and coal developed on federal lands and provide taxpayers with royalty revenues more in line with the market value of these resources.

ONRR, an agency within the Department of the Interior responsible for collecting the royalties from oil, gas, and coal developed on federal lands, implemented royalty reform under the previous administration that increased royalty income from the extraction of these resources. While the Obama era rule did not go far enough in correcting aspects of the mineral valuation scheme, it was certainly an improvement over the existing royalty practices, ensuring fairer returns to taxpayers. The current administration’s gift to industry will cost taxpayers as much as $75 million dollars in lost royalty revenue at a time when the national debt has never been higher.