Interior Department accused Bush administration for failing to collect billions of dollars royalty from companies who pumped oil and gas on federal land and in coastal waters. Interior Department’s inspector general Earl E Devaney said that its officials rely on statements by oil companies rather than actual records and Agency’s data are often inaccurate. The Interior Department said it would raise the royalty rate by 4.2% to 16.7% from 12.2% of oil and gas sales, a change that it estimated would increase government revenue by $4.5 billion over 20 years. ‘Increased royalty rates will ensure that during this time of high energy prices the American public receives its fair share of the value of oil and gas,’ said Gary Strasburg, a spokesman for the department. The change will not alter any of the thousands of existing offshore leases. But The Interior Department has been trying to renegotiate those leases for the last six months, but has managed to reach voluntary agreements with only 5 of the 56 companies that hold them. Two of the biggest players in the Gulf of Mexico, Chevron and Exxon Mobil, have refused to sign new deals. House Democrats expect to pass legislation by next week and make a mind to punish companies that refuse to renegotiate, either by imposing a stiff new tax on their production or by prohibiting them from acquiring new leases. Democrat of West Virginia and chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources Nick J. Rahall II feel that royalty on oil and gas need to be fixed. He added ‘Raising the royalty rates will do nothing to help the situation unless this administration expresses a true commitment to actually collecting these payments.’