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BILLINGS, Mont. — Congressional investigators say the government is losing tens of millions of dollars in potential royalties from energy companies that let immense volumes of natural gas escape into the atmosphere.
A new Government Accountability Office report says about 50 billion cubic feet of natural gas is needlessly lost every year from production on federal lands. That translates into $23 million in lost royalty revenue annually. The lost gas is equivalent to the annual greenhouse- gas emissions of more than 3 million cars.
The GAO’s Frank Rusco said Tuesday that technology to capture the escaping gas is available and economical. He faulted the Interior Department for lax regulations. The Associated Press; Denver Post file photo
