Finance chairman: Coal companies must stop shortchanging taxpayers

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said mining companies will no longer be allowed to dodge royalty payments when they export coal.

“I said from the beginning that taxpayers must receive every penny they are owed when coal companies sell resources extracted from public lands,” Wyden said.

{mosads}His comments came after Department of Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced the agency was closing tax loopholes that allowed companies to avoid paying full royalties on coal that was mined on federal land and shipped abroad.

Wyden applauded Jewell’s action, saying it was a “common-sense” step.

The Department of Interior will now factor in potential coal mining and exporting when assessing lease prices on Bureau of Land Management lands.