Under Obama, many federal agencies acted like a gang of power-mad Soviet-style dictators, most notably the BLM, EPA, IRS, DOJ, and DHS. But then, they were only doing the bidding of the Chief Dictator, Obama, himself. I'm so glad to see some welcome changes being advocated by various legislators that signal a desire to rein in the non-elected bureaucrats! Regarding H.J.Res.68 - Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5 of the United States Code of a rule submitted by the Bureau of Land Management relating to standards for measurement and reporting of gas removed or sold from Federal and Indian lands and areas subject to communitization agreements. I looked up the BLM rule, and here is part of what it says: 81516 Federal Register/Vol. 81, No. 222/Thursday, November 17, 2016/Rules and Regulations Background and Overview Under applicable laws, royalties are owed on all production removed or sold from Federal and Indian oil and gas leases. The basis for those royalty payments is the measured volume and quality of the production from those leases. In fiscal year (FY) 2015, onshore Federal oil and gas lease holders sold 180 million barrels of oil,1 2.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas,2 and 2.6 billion gallons of natural gas liquids, with a market value of more than $17.7 billion, and generating royalties of almost $2 billion. Nearly half of these revenues were distributed to the States in which the leases are located. Lease holders on tribal and Indian lands sold 59 million barrels of oil, 239 billion cubic feet of natural gas, and 182 million gallons of natural gas liquids, with a market value of over $3.6 billion, generating royalties of over $0.6 billion that were all distributed to the applicable tribes and individual allottment owners. As explained in the preamble for the proposed rule, given the magnitude of this production and the BLM’s statutory and management obligations, it is critically important that the BLM ensure that operators accurately measure, report, and account for that production. The final rule helps achieve that objective by updating and replacing Order 5’s requirements with respect to the measurement of gas with regulations codified in the CFR that reflect changes in applicable laws, metering technology, and industry standards since Order 5 was first promulgated in 1989.3 The basis for this rule is the Secretary of the Interior’s authority under various Federal and Indian mineral leasing laws to manage oil and gas operations, which authority has been delegated to the BLM. The proper measurement of gas is essential to ensure that the American public, as well as Indian tribes and individual allottees, receive the royalties to which they are entitled on oil and gas produced from Federal and Indian leases, respectively. The full text (121 pages) can be read here: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-11-17/pdf/2016-25410.pdf IOW, American companies cannot manage their own oil and gas operations without interference from the federal government. Keep in mind that Obama was waging a war against the production and usage of fossil fuels.

I refer this to LORAKI: Under Obama, many federal agencies acted like a gang of power-mad Soviet-style dictators, most notably the BLM, EPA, IRS, DOJ, and DHS. But then, they were only doing the bidding of the Chief Dictator, Obama, himself. I'm so glad to see some welcome changes being advocated by various legislators that signal a desire to rein in the non-elected bureaucrats! Regarding H.J.Res.68 - Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5 of the United States Code of a rule submitted by the Bureau of Land Management relating to standards for measurement and reporting of gas removed or sold from Federal and Indian lands and areas subject to communitization agreements. I looked up the BLM rule, and here is part of what it says: 81516 Federal Register/Vol. 81, No. 222/Thursday, November 17, 2016/Rules and Regulations Background and Overview Under applicable laws, royalties are owed on all production removed or sold from Federal and Indian oil and gas leases. The basis for those royalty payments is the measured volume and quality of the production from those leases. In fiscal year (FY) 2015, onshore Federal oil and gas lease holders sold 180 million barrels of oil,1 2.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas,2 and 2.6 billion gallons of natural gas liquids, with a market value of more than $17.7 billion, and generating royalties of almost $2 billion. Nearly half of these revenues were distributed to the States in which the leases are located. Lease holders on tribal and Indian lands sold 59 million barrels of oil, 239 billion cubic feet of natural gas, and 182 million gallons of natural gas liquids, with a market value of over $3.6 billion, generating royalties of over $0.6 billion that were all distributed to the applicable tribes and individual allottment owners. As explained in the preamble for the proposed rule, given the magnitude of this production and the BLM’s statutory and management obligations, it is critically important that the BLM ensure that operators accurately measure, report, and account for that production. The final rule helps achieve that objective by updating and replacing Order 5’s requirements with respect to the measurement of gas with regulations codified in the CFR that reflect changes in applicable laws, metering technology, and industry standards since Order 5 was first promulgated in 1989.3 The basis for this rule is the Secretary of the Interior’s authority under various Federal and Indian mineral leasing laws to manage oil and gas operations, which authority has been delegated to the BLM. The proper measurement of gas is essential to ensure that the American public, as well as Indian tribes and individual allottees, receive the royalties to which they are entitled on oil and gas produced from Federal and Indian leases, respectively. The full text (121 pages) can be read here: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-11-17/pdf/2016-25410.pdf IOW, American companies cannot manage their own oil and gas operations without interference from the federal government. Keep in mind that Obama was waging a war against the production and usage of fossil fuels.