U.S. Edges Closer to Hiking Oil Royalties

The government moved closer to collecting an additional $60 million a year in royalties for oil pumped from public lands. The Senate leadership knocked out a provision from the Interior Department appropriations bill that would have frozen in place the current royalty rules for two years. Senators from major oil-producing states may move to restore the current prices. But Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), denouncing the present system as “out and out thievery” to benefit the oil industry at the expense of taxpayers, pledged a filibuster if necessary to block any such effort.