Heller adds voice to royalty battle

In Washington DC, Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., has asked the U.S. Interior Department not to follow through with its intentions to take back the geothermal royalty money distributed to Nevada counties earlier this year. Royalties have been shared for years, with the federal government originally keeping half the money, with the other half turned over to the states to distribute to the counties. But Nevada decided in a December 2008 special legislative session to keep the money, which took $12 million from counties hosting geothermal plants. The Obama administration then eliminated the royalty revenue sharing for local governments in the 2010 budget, but some monies were distributed anyway. An amendment to the Interior Dept.’s appropriations bill that would have restored the royalties was approved for inclusion in the American Workers, State and Business Relief Act. Evidently, the legislation remains to be passed.