Iowa Senator Tom Harkin has formally requested that the U.S. General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, report on the various federal subsidies provided to the petroleum industry. "Since the beginning of the oil industry in the 19th century, oil producers and refining companies have benefited from a series of subsidies, incentives and other benefits, including production controls imposed by producing states, stripper well subsidies, consumption allowances, favorable leasing terms on federal lands, import quotas, and depletion allowances," Harkin said. "I request that General Accounting Office provide an accounting of all federal incentives and subsidies of any kind, including but not limited to tax benefits. to be truly representative, this analysis must extend back in history to reflect the incentives, subsidies and other benefits to the oil industry when it was in its early stages of development."