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 annually in lost revenues.
More than royalties are at stake: The lost gas is equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of more than 3 million cars.
GAO’s Frank Rusco said Tuesday that technology to capture the escaping gas is available and economical.
Rusco faulted the Interior Department for lax regulations and said it has greatly underestimated how much gas escapes from storage tanks and leaking equipment.
