Last month we detailed how the Obama administration has tried invoke the authority of “science” to support their pre-existing political policy proposals, despite the fact that on issue after issue there either is no scientific consensus, or the preponderance of scientific evidence did not support their side. Today, Politico adds more details to the Obama administration’s efforts to manipulate science to support their offshore drilling moratorium: The White House rewrote crucial sections of an Interior Department report to suggest an independent group of scientists and engineers supported a six-month ban …
The deepwater drilling moratorium ended three weeks ago, but it could be months before the federal government issues its first new permit. In a meeting last week with members of the National Ocean Industries Association, U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement Director Michael Bromwich was vague when asked when his agency would issue a new deepwater permit. According to Oil & Gas Journal, he simply said he hoped it could happen before the end of the year. Deepwater drilling permits came to a halt after the Deepwater …
What’s the best cure for a recessionary environment? Apparently, raising energy prices and killing jobs. The Obama Administration admitted to both because of the Department of Interior’s (DOI) newly announced offshore drilling safety regulations. Katie Howell of E&E reports: The Obama administration is acknowledging that its new offshore drilling safety regulations will raise costs for the oil and gas industry—and may also delay some offshore development, slightly increase gas prices and kill some jobs. The new rules unveiled last week would increase operating costs by an estimated $1.42 million for …
The Department of Interior and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEM) announced that blanket environmental exemptions, such as the one granted to BP, will not be given until “it undertakes a comprehensive review of its National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) process and the use of categorical exclusions for exploration and drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf.” The government should use this time to enact smarter regulations, not unnecessary regulations that make it too costly for projects to move forward. The NEPA process was originally set up to …
The House passed a little noticed bill, H.R.3940, on a voice vote on December 7, 2009 to provide money to Guam, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands money to “facilitate public education programs regarding political status options for their respective territories.” The Senate is considering consideration of this measure before the end of the year. This idea would use your tax dollars to fund U.S. territories’ efforts to secure statehood. This is not the first time your tax dollars have been used to push for statehood of a U.S. …
After the BP oil spill, the Obama Administration offered little excuse for instituting a moratorium on deepwater drilling regardless of the fact that it brought one of the Gulf Coast’s main industries to a sudden halt. Despite federal judge Martin Feldman’s ruling on the moratorium and despite a federal appeals court upholding that decision, the U.S. Department of Interior issued a new moratorium on deepwater drilling this afternoon. The new ban will not apply to a specific depth but instead “apply to any deep-water floating facility with drilling activities.” But …
If Energy Freedom Day seems like a long time ago, it was. It’s been since September of 2008 since the Congressional restrictions on energy leasing in 85 percent of America’s territorial waters, which have been renewed annually since 1982, were allowed to lapse. Along with the White House restrictions rescinded by President Bush, it opened nearly all of our federally controlled waters for energy leasing. A lot has happened since, but there’s been no real movement forward on drilling. The leasing process began with a comment period – extended six …
In what is being labeled as “Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reforms” Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced tougher new leasing rules that will inevitably make it more difficult and more expensive to drill for oil in the United States. Despite the recession, gas prices have crept up steadily in the past year – about a $1 increase per gallon from a year ago today. The national average is currently $2.68. Instead of increasing access to supply and creating jobs the administration is doing more to limit opportunities – …
Representative Rob Bishop’s (R-UT) is concerned about how the Department of the Interior is – or perhaps more appropriately isn’t – working with the Department of Homeland Security to secure our borders, and he let Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar know it at a hearing of the Committee on Natural Resources. As evidence of the issue’s gravity, Bishop points to a 2004 Interior Department report that had never been released to the public. According to the report the vast majority of the Organ National Pipe Monument in Arizona has …
Omnibus spending bills are typically end-of-the-year bills laden with wasteful earmarks and specific pet projects that cost the taxpayer billions of dollars. Because of the stimulus bill Congress pushed Omnibus legislation for the fiscal year 2009 into February with a vote in the House expected to come this week and a vote in the Senate the following week. Since most Members of Congress have some stake in the game, these bills always tend to pass despite public outcries to curb unnecessary government spending. But this time, it could end up …
