House passes bill forcing Big Oil to pay

Senate holds hearings on the simmering dispute of royalties, tax breaks

With the price of crude falling, Big Oil faces another big headache on Capitol Hill.

The House passed a bill Thursday evening to raise nearly $15 billion in taxes through a combination of higher royalties, added fees and a reversal of tax breaks handed out by the Bush administration and Republican Congress.

Earlier in the day, the Senate held hearings on the simmering dispute over federal oil leases that could cost the industry billions of dollars in back royalty payments.

At the center of the dispute is a series of leases awarded by the Interior Department in 1998 and 1999 that omitted a routine clause calling for a boost in payments if oil prices rose above $34 a barrel. Oil rose to well over $70 a barrel last year and is currently trading around $50, but the government has been unable to collect higher fees to reflect those rising prices.

MSNBC