Biggest public lands drillers made $100 billion after cheating taxpayers

In a new report from non-partisan government watchdog Accountable.US first reported in E&E today the biggest drillers of United States public lands are revealed for the first time. The report shows big, multinational oil corporations– some of the most profitable in the world–  benefiting the most from a broken public lands leasing system.

The report details how the top five publicly-traded public lands leaseholders control hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands in the United States. The same five companies made over $100 billion in profits in 2022 through corporate greed and price gouging.

It goes on to show that each of the top five publicly-traded public lands lease holders has a record of intentionally cheating on royalties– the portion of the value of publicly-owned minerals that companies are legally required to return to the public.

Download the full analysis at this link. 

The Biden administration recently announced new measures to address these and other abuses.