Interior Department Launches Data Portal Detailing the U.S. Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative’s First Annual Report

Initiative establishes thresholds for accountability and good governance that exceed international standards

12/15/2015
Last edited 09/29/2021

Date: December 15, 2015
Contact: Jessica Kershaw, Interior_Press@ios.doi.gov

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today marked an important milestone to increase transparency and public trust in the governance of natural resource revenues with release of a new interactive data portal and the first annual U.S. Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (USEITI) Report.  

The report identifies payments to government entities by companies engaged in natural resource extraction as part of an international effort to provide the public with accessible and comprehensive revenue data related to energy and mineral development.   

“Providing data in an open and accessible format will empower citizens, inform public discussions, and expand the scope of future revenue reporting to ensure the American people receive a fair return for the extraction of oil, gas, minerals and renewable energy on public lands and waters,” said Secretary Jewell.  “The report could not have been produced without support from industry and civil society, and it shines a spotlight on the value companies and the federal government receive for these valuable public resources.”

The global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative offers a framework for governments and companies to publicly disclose revenues paid and received for development of public resources. Countries participating in EITI work collaboratively with industry and civil society representatives to determine how best to implement EITI, including what information will be disclosed by both government and industry of the payments companies have made to the government for oil, gas, mining and renewable energy development on public lands.

“A diverse range of organizations worked collaboratively to produce a report that promotes more transparency, effectiveness and accountability in natural resource development,” said Kris Sarri, Interior’s Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget and the National Coordinator for USEITI.  “USEITI is a key component of both US global leadership and domestic efforts to continuously improve how we manage, account for, and talk about natural resource revenue.”

The data portal and report released today are the result of a three-year collaboration of the USEITI Multi-Stakeholder Group. The International Board overseeing implementation of the EITI global standard praised the data portal as an exemplary best practice in reporting revenue data, recognizing the United States as a leader and role model for transparency and accessibility.  

Interior’s online report contains three primary components:  

  • Unilateral disclosure of $12.6 billion for Interior in calendar year 2013 energy and mineral revenues, disaggregated at the company level and reported by commodity and revenue type; 
  • Voluntary payment disclosure of more than $8.5 billion from 31 of the 45 U.S. extractive companies asked to participate in USEITI; and  
  • Contextual information about the extractive industry, including publically available information about state-level revenue collections, 12 case studies that provide a snapshot into communities strongly rooted in the extractive industry, and easy access to authoritative, publicly available data.  

As a result of the comprehensive data disclosure, auditors reported zero unexplained variances because they were able to reconcile 100 percent of the payments voluntarily reported by the 31 companies with revenues disclosed by the federal government. The reconciliation of $8.5 billion in company payments accounts for roughly 70 percent of the Department’s $12.6 billion in calendar year 2013 energy and mineral revenues.   

Disclosure of information contained in the data portal by private sector companies is currently voluntary. However, the Securities and Exchange Commission recently unveiled draft rules that would require oil and mining companies to disclose payments made to the U.S. government and foreign governments. The proposed regulations implement Section 1504 of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and will further strengthen USEITI transparency efforts.   

The report also contains production data for federal onshore and offshore areas for calendar years 2005-2014. The dataset includes production volumes for oil, gas, coal, and other solid minerals at the federal, state and in many cases the county level, and was developed by Interior’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR). Part of the Department’s Office of Policy, Management and Budget, ONRR is responsible for collecting, disbursing, and verifying Federal and Indian energy and other natural resource revenues. ONRR is the lead office at Interior responsible for implementing USEITI.  

Interior’s Data Portal and the USEITI Report can be found at https://useiti.doi.gov/.

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