Feds send $13.4 Billion in Energy dollars to State, Local and Tribal Governments

Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today announced that the Department of the Interior disbursed more than $13.4 billion in revenue generated by energy production on Federal and American Indian lands and offshore areas in Fiscal Year 2014, with increases in state and Indian Country revenues over the prior year. The disbursements include more than $1 billion to American Indian Tribes and individual Indian mineral owners, marking the first time disbursements from energy production on American Indian lands topped the billion-dollar mark. The Interior Department distributes energy revenues to state, local, and federal accounts to support critical reclamation, conservation, recreation, and historic preservation projects. Local governments apply the revenues to meet a variety of needs, ranging from school funding to infrastructure improvements and water conservation projects. The $1.1 billion disbursed to 34 American Indian Tribes and more than 34,000 individual Indian mineral owners for resources held for them in trust or restricted status represents an increase of more than $200 million over FY 2013 disbursements that totaled $932.9 million...more