Multi-billion dollar oil lease "error" by Dept of Interior deliberate?

U.S. Department of the Interior officials may have deliberately removed provisions from offshore drilling contracts, giving oil companies a multibillion-dollar windfall, two Republican congressmen are charging. And the government may have already lost $2 billion in royalties owed and may lose another $8 billion yet on the term left on the 1990's leases, according to the Reps. Tom Davis of Va. and Darryl Issa of Calif.

The congressmen are demanding more information on the leases, which are for deep sea oil drilling operations, from the Secretary for the Interior. The Interior's inspector general has also opened an investigation.

Evidently, a provision in the leases that would have paid substantially increased royalties in the event of soaring gas and oil prices -- such as we are experiencing right now -- was left out of the contracts. And the congressmen believe there's indication that the omission was no mistake. They have "the impression" that Interior has been less than open -- by withholding emails and other evidence of the transaction.

The oil industry has certainly been embarrassed quarter after quarter of late, by news of unprecedented profits. Nah, I take that back, I don't know whether or not the oil industry is capable of feeling embarrassment at anything.