{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.heitkamp.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=e7f7140e-3d1e-4436-914a-30e3d0480090", "Administration Heeds Delegation\u2019s Call to Pay Back Mineral Revenue North Dakota is Owed", "2013-08-28", "2013", "2013-08", "Democrat", "House", "ND", "Heidi Heitkamp", "H001069", "www.heitkamp.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "GRAND FORKS, N.D. \u2013 Senators Heidi Heitkamp and John Hoeven, as well as Congressman Kevin Cramer, today announced that the Department of Interior (DOI) will repay North Dakota the additional mineral revenue that was withheld for Fiscal Year 2013, totaling more than $1.5 million the state is owed.\r\nThe North Dakota federal delegation sent a letter in May to U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Sylvia Mathews Burwell expressing their concerns about how these revenues have been incorrectly taken away from the state. Heitkamp and Hoeven also helped introduce legislation to adjust how these payments are made in the future so DOI cannot suspend payments to states.\r\n\u201cNorth Dakota is responsible for most of its energy development costs and we are committed to making sure our state gets its fair share of revenue from mineral extraction and energy development,\u201d the delegation said. \u201cWe pushed back on the Administration, and it agreed with us that, regardless of federal across-the-board cuts, it should repay to North Dakota the funds it withheld. The fact is that this revenue is meant for energy producing states, so money meant for North Dakota shouldn't be diverted to reduce the federal deficit. We will continue to work to see that the federal government is correctly disbursing the funds generated from energy production.\u201d\r\nThe Mineral Leasing Act entitles states to 48 percent of all revenue collected by the federal government for mineral activity on federal lands within state boundaries. But earlier this year, DOI began to withhold North Dakota\u2019s share of mineral revenue under the rationale that the Department needed to cut back disbursement because of the across-the-board federal spending cuts, known as sequestration. Except these funds were always meant to go to energy producing states, not the federal government, and therefore, shouldn't be impacted by federal cuts.\r\nThe North Dakota delegation and other Members of Congress from energy producing states reminded the Administration that these funds are not subject to sequestration cuts. DOI agreed with this assessment and agreed to repay the additional 5.1 percent it withheld in FY 2013.\u00a0\r\nThrough July, DOI has held about $1.5 million of North Dakota\u2019s Mineral Leasing Act payments, explaining that the amended Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act allowed them to limit the funds distributed to states. The delegation highlighted that portion of the law which states the funds shall be available in subsequent years.\u00a0\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.heitkamp.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=e7f7140e-3d1e-4436-914a-30e3d0480090"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0613868944346905, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}