House Dem blasts Salazar 'kings of the world' comment
E&E News
A Democratic congressman from Oklahoma is blasting Interior Secretary Ken Salazar for saying oil and gas companies were "kings of the world" during the George W. Bush administration.
Rep. Dan Boren said he is offended by the "beyond the pale" comments made yesterday when Salazar announced major reform of federal oil and gas leasing. While thousands of Oklahomans and people from other energy-producing states are losing their jobs, Boren said, the rhetoric "only serves to add insult to injury -- like he's just trying to pile-on their misery."
Boren said the companies affected by the reforms are not global conglomerates but smaller, independent producers that drill 90 percent of the wells in the United States.
"To these companies, and the people behind them whose blood, sweat, and tears have helped to build this country, statements such as your 'kings of the world' comment are a profound affront," he wrote in a letter to Salazar.
Boren also objected to the policy changes Salazar announced, which include more detailed environmental reviews, more public input and less use of a provision to streamline leasing. Salazar said the changes are necessary to return balance after Interior was "essentially a handmaiden" for the oil and gas industry under the previous administration.
"I am deeply disturbed by this administration's continued hypocrisy with regards to American energy policy," Boren wrote.
In response, Interior spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff said Salazar agrees that "conventional and renewable energy are vital elements of our economy and support jobs across the county."
"But the fact is that under the status quo, 40 percent of the leases being offered for oil and gas development get protested or litigated -- that number is way up from the 1 percent that were protested in 1998," Barkoff added. "When leases are stuck in court or in protest, that doesn't help anyone. Secretary Salazar's reforms are aimed at increasing certainty in the industry, restoring balance to the management of public lands."
Specifically, Boren said developing a master leasing plan "under the stewardship of yet another disassociated, Washington-based regulatory team will only create potential for litigation and protest on every oil and gas lease issued by the agency." Salazar yesterday issued a secretarial order establishing a new Energy Reform Team to identify and implement important energy management reforms.
Boren also opposes a change to the use of a provision to streamline oil and gas drilling applications on public lands. Section 390 of the 2005 Energy Policy Act allows the Bureau of Land Management to approve certain oil and gas projects without preparing new environmental analyses that would normally be required by the National Environmental Policy Act.
Environmentalists have challenged in court some projects approved under categorical exclusions measure, saying BLM failed to analyze or consider the environmental effects to the areas.
Under the new policy, BLM will not use these categorical exclusions in cases involving "extraordinary circumstances" such as impacts to protected species, historic or cultural resources, or human health and safety.
"Your policy changes not only violate federal law, a law which you and President Obama both voted for in the Senate, but they are also inconsistent with the administration's stated goals for an American energy policy that provides more jobs and strengthens national security," Boren wrote.
But Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said the change will "return to practices that are consistent with Section 390 as Congress actually passed it and that will lead to the best outcome for energy development and the environment."
This article was authored by Noelle Straub and is posted courtesy of E&E Publishing/E&E News PM. To access the E&E News PM web site, go here.
