Secretary Zinke Appoints Members to the Royalty Policy Committee, Announces First Meeting

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke today announced the appointment of 20 primary and 18 alternate members to the Department of the Interior’s Royalty Policy Committee (Committee) that will serve a critical role in advising the Secretary on policy and strategies to improve management of the multi-billion dollar, federal and American Indian mineral revenue program. The Committee’s first meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 4.

"Working closely with the Committee, we will come up with solutions for modernizing the management of public and American Indian assets, while building greater trust and transparency in how we value our nation's public mineral resources,” said Secretary Zinke. “It's important that the taxpayers and tribes get the full and fair value of traditional and renewable energy produced on public lands and offshore areas."

The Committee may also advise the Secretary on the potential impacts of proposed policies and regulations related to revenue collection from energy and mineral development on public lands, including whether a need exists for regulatory reform. To underscore the Department’s commitment to reforming revenue management and royalty collections, the Committee, which may consist of up to 28 members, reflects the diverse perspectives of a wide-range of stakeholders, including representatives of western states and American Indian tribes that produce energy, energy stakeholders, academic groups and the general public, as well as Interior officials. Non-federal members will serve three-year terms.

The Secretary appointed Vincent DeVito, Counselor to the Secretary for Energy Policy, as Chairman of the Committee. "On behalf of the Secretary, I am committed to aligning this Committee with our continuing drive toward making the Department a better business partner and delivering better results for American taxpayers,” said Chairman DeVito.

The agenda and meeting materials will be posted on the Committee website at www.doi.gov/rpc.

The meeting is open to members of the public, who may attend in person or view the documents and presentations under discussion via WebEx and listen to the proceedings at telephone number 1-888-455-2910 or International Toll number 210-839-8953 (passcode: 7741096). The public will be invited to make statements during the meeting and file written statements with the Committee for consideration. To submit written comments, contact Kim Oliver at rpc@ios.doi.gov or mail your written comments to Royalty Policy Committee, Attn: Kim Oliver, 1849 C Street NW MS 5134, Washington, D.C. 20240.

Secretary Zinke signed a charter in March of this year establishing the Royalty Policy Committee to review revenues collected from oil and gas drilling, coal mining and renewable energy production on federal lands and offshore areas, and provide regular advice to the Secretary on the fair market value of and collection of revenues from these Federal and Indian mineral and energy leases. Interested persons were invited in the Federal Register to submit their names under the process outlined in the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

The Secretary appointed the following non-federal members to the Committee:

The Federal Register Notice announcing the first meeting of the Committee can be accessed via the web at: https://www.federalregister.gov/. Additional information about the Committee and meeting materials can be found on the Committee website.

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