Wampum

I've argued for oh-so-long now that Abramoff is intricately tied into the Interior Department, not just because of tribal gaming, but because of oil, gas and mining. Abramoff's prime contact in Interior, Dep. Sec. J. Steven Griles, himself a former natual resources lobbyist with clients such as Occidental, BP and the National Mining Association, had very little to do with tribal gaming, with a few notable exceptions; however, within three months of confirmation, Griles volunteered for the "thankless" task of overseeing "reform" of the Indian Trust Fund.

I've ranted (entire category) and raved, to little avail. Just when I thought the issue had legs, blogs got bogged down in Deb Howell's parsing of who, Abramoff or his tribal clients, gave whom, Republicans or Democrats, millions in Indian cash. One minute, we were on the scent, the next, blogger panels were being formed over the "fever swamp" mentality of blog commentors. Once again, the hope that justice for Indians scammed by US oil, gas, forestry and mining companies might just creep forward a few inches was dashed in blogospheric navel gazing.

This time, however, where "new media" failed, traditional media is catching on, though possibly only because non-Indians might benefit as well:

Firms Harvesting Energy From Public Land May Owe U.S.
Under the False Claims Act, Groups Sue for More Fees

By T.R. Reid

Washington Post Staff Writer

Sunday, May 7, 2006; Page A03

CENTENNIAL, Colo. -- As soaring prices prompt huge increases in gas and oil drilling on public land, an ad hoc posse of state governments, Indian tribes and individual "bounty hunters" is charging that big energy companies are shortchanging taxpayers by billions of dollars.

They say drilling companies and pipeline operators are understating the amount and the quality of the natural gas they pump on public land, and are paying far less in royalties than required by law.

State and tribal governments rely on Washington -- specifically, the Minerals Management Service in the Department of the Interior -- to determine what royalties are owed and to collect the money. States and tribes then receive their shares from the federal government.

Two organizations -- the Council of Energy Resource Tribes, representing 57 tribes in the nation and Canada, and the State and Tribal Royalty Audit Committee, representing 11 state governments and eight tribes, mainly in the West -- are pressuring the Minerals Management Service and the gas companies for stricter accounting and higher royalty payments.

At the heart of the Indian Trust Fund lawsuit was a proper accounting of all royalties owed to tribes for the leasing of Indian lands for natural resource exploitation, farming or grazing. If Congress, after ten years of the subverting of justice by both the Clinton and Bush Administrations, steps in and forces a settlement, then no accounting will ever be undertaken, and the corporations will have gotten away with massive fraud and theft.