BLM cuts oil drillers slack

Oil and gas drillers on government land in western states are getting audited less.

Instead, by the claim of “saving audit money” through letting oil and gas companies pay royalties in kind instead of in cash, the Bush Administration is showing the same naïve trust Georgie-Porgie did to Vlad the Impaler Putin.

And, per the story, California officials say their auditors usually recover three times as much money from drillers’ underpayments as they spend on auditing.