Washington, D.C. — Nidhi Thakar, Deputy Director of the Public Lands Project at the Center for American Progress, released the following statement today on the close of the comment period for the U.S. Department of the Interior rulemaking on coal royalty valuation, ONRR-2012-0004-0024.
The practice of companies selling coal to their own subsidiaries to dodge royalty payments is absolutely wrong and should be banned. While the Interior Department is right to close this gaping loophole, the proposed rule needs to be strengthened to ensure that taxpayers, western states, and local communities are getting their full and fair share of royalties from the mining and sale of publicly owned coal. The record-shattering number of comments on this rule from concerned taxpayers is a sign that the time has come for top-to-bottom reform of the federal coal program.
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