Ryan Zinke Sued Over ‘Stacked’ U.S. Panel on Oil, Gas, Coal Royalties

The Trump administration committee that helps set royalty payments for coal, oil and gas extracted from public lands is stacked with industry insiders who stand to directly benefit from lower payments to the public, a U.S. environmental group said in a lawsuit.

The Interior Department’s Royalty Policy Committee, created in September 2017 by Secretary Ryan Zinke, operates "in secret" to advance the goals of so-called extractive industries that paid a total of almost $7 billion in royalties to the government last year, the Western Organization of Resource Councils said in a complaint filed in federal court in Missoula, Montana.