{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-coal-companies-must-stop-shortchanging-taxpayers", "Wyden: Coal Companies Must Stop Shortchanging Taxpayers", "2014-12-19", "2014", "2014-12", "Democrat", "House", "OR", "Ron Wyden", "W000779", "www.wyden.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Wyden Calls Proposed Interior Dept. Rule a Common-Sense Step to Closing Loophole for Exported Coal\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tFriday, December 19, 2014\n            \n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWashington, D.C.\u00a0\u2013 Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., praised\u00a0the Interior Department announcement that it will\u00a0close loopholes\u00a0that have allowed mining companies to dodge royalties when federal coal is exported overseas.\r\nWyden called for an investigation of questionable royalty practice in January 2013, after a series of Reuters articles detailed how some companies were using financial arrangements \u2013 often selling coal to their own subsidiaries at a low price \u2013 to avoid paying full royalties on coal that was mined on federal and tribal lands and then shipped abroad.\r\n\u201cI said from the beginning that taxpayers must receive every penny they are owed when coal companies sell resources extracted from public lands,\u201d\u00a0Wyden said.\u00a0\u201cI applaud Interior Secretary Sally Jewell\u00a0beginning to take\u00a0common-sense steps\u00a0to make sure that happens.\u201d\r\nThe Department of the Interior also announced it will update 25-year-old guidelines that may have allowed coal mining companies to pay below-market rates to lease Bureau of Land Management lands,\u00a0another issue Wyden raised earlier this year. The new guidelines are expected to bring more consistency to the leasing process, and require BLM offices to take into account the potential that coal mined on federal land could be exported.\r\nThe Interior Department took a number of steps in response to Wyden\u2019s inquiry, including audits of past royalty payments, which are ongoing.", 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.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-coal-companies-must-stop-shortchanging-taxpayers"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4039077796041965, "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"}