Sen. Grassley introduces bill to crack Big Oil’s subsidy advantage

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, introduced the Fair Returns for Public Lands Act with Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nevada. The bill, introduced March 10, would modernize the royalty rates petroleum companies pay when drilling on public lands, which haven’t been updated for more than 100 years.

“Big Oil loves to claim there would be a so-called level playing field if not for the RFS,” said Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association. “Meanwhile, for over 100 years petroleum companies have been paying pennies on the dollar for resources extracted from public lands. The truth is the playing field can never be level when oil companies have secret advantages. This is just one of many hidden Big Oil tax subsidies and we thank Sen. Grassley for shining a light on it.”