Today, House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources Chairman Pete Stauber (R-Minn.) sent a follow-up letter to Howard Cantor, director of the Department of the Interior's Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR), requesting information regarding ONRR's methodology for calculating federal royalties from energy production on federal lands and waters. To date, the Biden administration has not complied with the committee's oversight of this issue. In part, the members wrote:

"As you know, in May 2019 the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report detailing alarming issues with ONRR’s royalty compliance efforts. Then, last year, the Committee received information regarding a potential lack of internal controls at ONRR. As a result, on December 20, 2023, the Committee sent you an oversight letter expressing concern over your office’s management of federal royalty rates and revenue. The Committee Letter requested information, documents, and records critical to our ongoing oversight efforts. On January 12, 2024, staff from DOI, on behalf of ONRR, confirmed receipt of the Committee Letter. However, the deadline for the information, documents, and records requested in the Committee Letter was on January 5, 2024. To date, the Committee has yet to receive a substantive reply or production responsive to our requests."

Read the full letter here and the committee's original inquiry here.