Oil- and gas-rich counties ask for more federal revenue

Mark Christensen, a county commissioner from northeast Wyoming, traveled to the nation’s capital last month to ask for more money from production of federal minerals in his county. Christensen testified in support of the proposed POWER Counties Act, which would amend the 1920 Mineral Leasing Act to funnel federal royalties on oil and gas extraction back to the counties in which they were produced. “Even though we have these great mineral resources, 88 percent of them are controlled by the federal government (in Campbell County),” he said. Discussion of the bill at a U.S. House subcommittee on energy and mineral resources hearing put on display unanswered questions over what benefits locals should see from resources in their backyards. Currently, 50 percent of royalties collected from federal land mineral leases goes back to the states where they were produced. The state then determines how that money is distributed, meaning only a portion might go back to the originating county. The remaining funds stay with the federal government, and 80 percent of that remainder is earmarked for the federal Bureau of Reclamation — to support water projects across the West.