As crashing oil prices hit U.S. oil and gas companies, one Texas lawmaker is asking the Department of the Interior to reduce the royalties that firms pay for oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico. “We do not believe the American energy sector needs a bailout from Congress. However the Department of Interior has existing authority to temporarily reduce or eliminate royalties set forth in the leases in the Western and Central planning areas of the Gulf of Mexico,” Congressman Dan Crenshaw of Texas wrote in a letter to the Secretary of the Interior, David Bernhardt, as carried by Houston Chronicle . “We urge you to consider the viability of a temporary reduction in royalties,” Congressman Crenshaw wrote. Reducing royalty payments for companies could help some firms reduce the number of layoffs in Texas and the Gulf Coast, he argues. In the wake of the crashing oil […]