FOR RELEASE: July 13, 1995            CONTACT: Michael L. Baugher
                                                   (303) 231-3162
                                                Thomas C. DeRocco
                                                   (202) 208-3983
                                      
         36 STATES RECEIVE $229 MILLION IN FIRST HALF
         OF 1995 AS SHARE OF FEDERAL MINERAL REVENUES (#50047)
                                      
   The U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management
Service (MMS) today announced that it had distributed more than
$229 million to 36 states during the first half of 1995.  The
money represents the states' cumulative share of revenues
collected for mineral production on federal lands located within
their borders and from federal offshore oil and gas tracts
adjacent to their shores.  In 1994, more than $537 million was
distributed to state treasuries by MMS. 

   MMS is responsible for collecting, accounting for, auditing
and disbursing revenues associated with mineral leases on federal
and Indian lands. Disbursements are made to states on a monthly
basis, as bonuses, rents, royalties and other revenues are
collected. 

   A state is entitled to a share of the mineral revenues
collected from federal lands located within that state's
boundaries. For the majority of federal lands, states and the
federal government share the revenues: 50 percent to the state,
40 percent to the Reclamation Fund for water projects, and 10
percent to the U.S. Treasury. One exception, Alaska, gets a
90-percent share, as prescribed by the Alaska Statehood Act.

   Certain coastal states with federal offshore tracts within
three miles of their seaward boundaries receive 27 percent of
those mineral royalties under section 8(g) of the Outer
Continental Shelf Lands Act.  The remaining 73 percent of 8(g)
revenues from federal offshore leases is deposited in special
accounts of the U.S. Treasury, including the General Fund, the
Land and Water Conservation Fund, and the Historic Preservation
Fund. 
                             
AL...$3,427,145.11    LA...$4,435,306.31    OR...$21,559.23  
AK...$2,351,934.91    MI...$376,325.94      PA...$14,034.03  
AZ...$15,952.54       MS...$343,365.33      SC...$1,870.55  
AR...$446,456.17      MO...$523,181.41      SD...$196,862.98  
CA...$14,138,218.80   MT...$12,612,507.45   TN...$63.38
CO...$14,924,681.75   NE...$6,960.67        TX...$3,819,879.30
FL...$10,097.00       NV...$2,847,518.16    UT...$12,875,895.68
ID...$784,928.28      NM...$56,599,269.57   VA...$47,302.58  
IL...$42,922.87       NC...$456.50          WA...$166,407.52
IN...$98.80           ND...$1,447,929.80    WV...$113,469.18  
KS...$476,572.19      OH...$111,519.28      WI...$726.96
KY...$44,970.49       OK...$803,537.41      WY...$95,195,054.60

Total                  $229,224,982.73

     MMS is the federal agency that manages the nation's natural
gas, oil and other mineral resources on the OCS, and collects and
disburses about $4 billion yearly in revenues from offshore
federal mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases on federal
and Indian lands.

                             -MMS-
Subject: PR-7/13/95 8g payments/36 States Receive $229M in First
Half of 1995 as Share of Federal Mineral Revenues (#50047)