House Panel Urges Reworking of Leases for Oil Drilling in U.S.-Owned Waters

By EDMUND L. ANDREWS

Published: May 11, 2006

WASHINGTON, May 10 — Amid a growing uproar over lucrative government incentives for oil and gas producers, the House Appropriations Committee approved a bill on Wednesday that would order the Interior Department to renegotiate about 1,000 leases for companies drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

The bill, an amendment to an appropriation bill for the Interior Department, would require the Bush administration to revisit scores of leases that permit companies to produce billions of dollars worth of oil and gas in publicly owned waters without paying royalties to the government.