Public Citizen News (January/February) published an article entitled "109^Th Congress Exists in Disgrace, Giving Big Oil a $10 Billion Break on Oil, Gas Lease Royalty Payments" which tells the whole shameful story. It seems that Congress with the help of lame duck Republican House members cast the deciding vote which gave big oil a huge financial break while allowing drilling in the Golf of Mexico without having to pay American taxpayers for the privilege. A bill to have allowed the U.S. Treasury Department to recover some $10 Billion dollars in lost royalty payments from oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico was defeated. The companies had been allowed to take oil and gas without having to pay for doing it at the same time big oil was sticking it to American users at $60 per barrel prices. Not only did Congress fail to plug that glaring loop hole allowing royalty free drilling, Public Citizen News reports that Congress also provided $525 Million in new give always by allowing more royalty free drilling. Congress also granted $3.9 billion worth of energy tax breaks to big oil.

The paper reports that big oil has donated some $65 million since 2001 to politicians and 81% of that went to Republicans – the same lame duck bunch that approved 8.3 million more acres in the Gulf for royalty free drilling. Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen said: "It is unconscionable that at a time when the largest five oil companies posted profits of $93 billion in just the first nine months of 2006, Congress, with the help of recently fired lawmakers, voted to protect oil companies at the expense of the American Taxpayer." Tyson Slocum of Public Citizen pointed out that "Left to their own devices, oil companies will just keep drilling in environmentally sensitive federal land and offshore areas and fueling their corporate wealth in the process." The corruption of integrity of lawmakers by political contributions from big oil and giant corporations is shocking. They have gotten away with buying off our Congressional lawmakers for so long one wonders if there is any hope of finding any honest law makers with the guts to stopping it once and for all.