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Govt. Eyes Error That Cost U.S. Billions
AP via Yahoo News ^ | March 2, 2006 | H. JOSEF HEBERT

Posted on 03/02/2006 11:29:07 AM PST by soccer_maniac

WASHINGTON - How it happened or who's responsible is a mystery eight years after the fact. But what may have been a simple error — or perhaps something more ominous — has given a multimillion-dollar windfall to a group of oil and gas companies and could cost the government billions of dollars more in the years to come.

The Interior Department disclosed Wednesday that a provision was mysteriously deleted from hundreds of federal drilling leases in the late 1990s that would have required producers to pay royalties, once prices reached a certain level, on oil or gas taken from deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: clintons; corruption; derschlickmiester; interior; inthelate1990s; mms; oil; oilscam
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To: kcvl

If the Con-gress wants to get its collective shorts in knot over something, I think this bloody well deserves it.


61 posted on 03/02/2006 1:05:27 PM PST by mewzilla (Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist. John Adams)
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To: GovernmentShrinker
Actually I think just about anything that keeps money out of government hands is a good thing, including this.

Exactly. Some TAX goes uncollected because they goofed, and it is not being sucked out of the economy and wasted on government. What's not to like?

62 posted on 03/02/2006 1:13:02 PM PST by Ramius (Buy blades for war fighters: freeper.the-hobbit-hole.net --> 1100 knives and counting!)
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To: kcvl; Alamo-Girl; Howlin
A-G, is the Baca mentioned in your link, here the same Sylvia Baca? From your link:

World Net Daily 7/21/98 Charles Smith ".In response to the House request for Sockowitz documents on 1995 memos between himself and Baca - on July 6, 1998, Reinsch wrote a confused reply to Chairman Floyd Spence of the House National Security Committee. Curiously, Reinsch ignores the Kazakhstan request of 1996 and claims in his letter that the memos he exchanged with Ms. Baca were not for the Chinese Loral satellite launch that failed in February, 1996."

Or is this a different Ms. Baca?

An terrific site you have there, BTW, A-G. An incredible amount of info. And it must involve an awful lot of work. Thanks!

63 posted on 03/02/2006 1:16:27 PM PST by mewzilla (Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist. John Adams)
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To: MamaTexan
The question is when will the pubs grow a pair and DO something about it?

The answer is NO.......the REAL question is WHY NOT?

64 posted on 03/02/2006 2:05:59 PM PST by MamaLucci (Mutually assured destruction STILL keeps the Clinton administration criminals out of jail.)
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To: mewzilla
I wonder which companies benefitted from this, and if they made any campaign contributions right after the goof that could only have been done by a human, not a computer.
65 posted on 03/02/2006 3:26:26 PM PST by mewzilla (Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist. John Adams)
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To: mewzilla
Thank you so much for all your kind words, mewzilla!

The Baca in that excerpt is Bettie Baca. (Sockowitz 1995 correspondence). Thanks for asking!

66 posted on 03/02/2006 11:41:59 PM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: thoughtomator

Never seems to end ... Thanks for the ping!


67 posted on 03/02/2006 11:45:17 PM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: MamaTexan
"The question is when will the pubs grow a pair and DO something about it?"

they don't have any.....I am losing any hope that ANYBODY gives a damn about we simple citizens out here......

68 posted on 03/02/2006 11:52:53 PM PST by cherry
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To: Wolfie
"The people who will be really pissed are the Congresscritters "

to clarify....its the Dummies who want to go after the terrible profits of the oil and gas companies that are making billions......how can the Dummies go after them with a straight face KNOWING that it was their own guy ,the TOON, who's administration allowed this tiny little billion dollar "mistake" to occur...

oh...I forgot....we're talking Dummies here....they have no scruples nor shame in defending their own ........

69 posted on 03/03/2006 12:01:30 AM PST by cherry
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To: MNJohnnie

plenty. I rember this one. it did drop out of the public mind rather quickly. but then Clinton had MSM eating out of his hand all the time


70 posted on 03/03/2006 12:03:44 AM PST by Cinnamon
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To: MNJohnnie
LOTS!

We talked about this, on FR, back then.

71 posted on 03/03/2006 12:05:59 AM PST by nopardons
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To: Howlin
Remember when this WAS talked about?

If WE knew, how come it's a surprise, all of a sudden?

72 posted on 03/03/2006 12:08:14 AM PST by nopardons
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To: Howlin

bttt


73 posted on 03/03/2006 12:08:49 AM PST by nopardons
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To: Howlin

bttt


74 posted on 03/03/2006 12:10:30 AM PST by nopardons
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To: kcvl

BIG BUMP


75 posted on 03/03/2006 12:13:00 AM PST by nopardons
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To: kcvl

bttt


76 posted on 03/03/2006 12:14:37 AM PST by nopardons
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To: kcvl

bttt


77 posted on 03/03/2006 12:15:37 AM PST by nopardons
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To: Howlin
Whoa. Izzat the same Babbit who allegedly looted Indian Trust Fund money?

It would not surprise me if the flunkies in Interior either screwed the pooch or there was a transfer of funds somewhere. Either way, this should be investigated.

Keep in mind the price of oil in 98-99 was in the crapper. Sweet crude here (Williston Basin) was selling for $6.50 a bbl. Anyone expected to even look twice at (very expensive, cutting edge offshore technology) drilling and exploration operations in the deepwater G.O.M. had to have some incentives, especially then.

After all, the IEA had reported an imminent worldwide glut of oil (they failed to take into account growth in Asian demand), and that report crashed the price.

How often do the leases not held by production come up for renewal?

78 posted on 03/03/2006 12:20:51 AM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly.)
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To: kcvl

bttt


79 posted on 03/03/2006 12:22:18 AM PST by nopardons
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To: kcvl

bttt


80 posted on 03/03/2006 12:23:15 AM PST by nopardons
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