THE US federal oil and gas leasing programme for onshore and offshore acreage is antiquated and in need of significant improvements, according to the US Department of the Interior. Assembled in response to an executive order from President Joe Biden, a new report said the current programme "fails to provide a fair return to taxpayers, even before factoring in the resulting climate-related costs that must be borne by taxpayers". One of the primary complaints made by the DOI centred on current royalty rates, which it said are far below market value and considerably less than those charged by individual states. "The fiscal components of the onshore federal oil and gas programme are particularly outdated, with royalty rates that have not been raised for 100 years," the department said.
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