You seem to be doing well, have some more money!

An article in the New York Times (free reg required), points out that the government will be forgoing almost $8 Billion in oil and gas royalties between now and 2011. This is largely a result of "royalty relief" incentives put in place in the Clinton years as a way of encouraging oil companies to invest in risky capacity in the Gulf of Mexico at a time when oil prices were around $10. The incentives made sense at the time, but in a world of $60 oil, it begins to look like shoveling more money at companies already posting record profits (amid soaring energy costs for consumers). The problem is that the government might be in a bit of a legal bind. The original laws establishing the incentives make no reference to "price triggers", ie. the market price for oil at which the relief automatically stops applying. The department of the interior, which handles the royalty collection, claims to be authorized to set such ceilings, and indeed has set them at $35 per barrel (a price passed several years ago).
Meanwhile, congress attempted to include a one time windfall tax on oil profits last year as a dirty fix to the problem. This raises a question about how to deal with poorly written laws we inherit. It takes much greater political effort to change or get rid of legislation than it does to create new legislation (sometimes as a sloppy band-aid for past mistakes). Forget judicial restraint, how about some legislative restraint?