{
  "id": "RS22764",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RS22764",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 363299,
      "date": "2007-12-04",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T03:55:40.346704",
      "title": "Recent Litigation Related to Royalties from Federal Offshore Oil and Gas Production",
      "summary": "On October 30, 2007, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana issued a ruling in Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Corp. v. Allred that rebuffed efforts of the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) to collect royalties from offshore oil and gas production leases based on so-called \u201cprice thresholds\u201d for previously granted royalty relief.\nThere has been considerable interest in the impact of this ruling on ongoing congressional efforts related to certain \u201cmissing\u201d royalty payment requirements in leases issued by the Minerals Management Service (MMS) of the DOI in 1998 and 1999, including the proposed Royalty Relief for American Consumers Act of 2007, as found at sections 7501-7505 of H.R. 3221. The House of Representatives passed H.R. 3221 on August 4, 2007. This report (1) provides background on the Outer Continental Shelf Deep Water Royalty Relief Act (DWRRA), pursuant to which royalty-free leases, including the controversial 1998 and 1999 leases, were issued; (2) summarizes relevant portions of the proposed Royalty Relief for American Consumers Act, which attempts to encourage the renegotiation of the controversial 1998 and 1999 leases; (3) summarizes the recent ruling in the Kerr-McGee matter; and (4) analyzes the potential impact of that recent ruling on the proposed Royalty Relief for American Consumers Act and any similar legislative efforts. This analysis is restricted to a discussion of the potential impact of the recent ruling on section 7504 of H.R. 3221, which would place restrictions on holders of leases that lack price thresholds. It does not address section 7503 of H.R. 3221, which seeks to \u201cclarify the authority\u201d of the Secretary of the Interior to include price thresholds on royalty relief in offshore leases pursuant to section 304 of the DWRRA.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
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      "topics": []
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}