SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES
1324 Longworth House Office Building
Thursday, September 15, 2011
9:30 a.m.

• Official hearing transcript
• Press Release - VIDEO RELEASE: Chairman Hastings Announces Draft Reorganization Proposal of Interior Department’s Offshore Energy Oversight (7/25/2011)
• Blog - Politico Pro: Hastings floats drilling oversight plan (7/25/2011)

LEGISLATIVE HEARING ON:

• Discussion Draft (Hastings of WA), To establish in the Department of the Interior an Under Secretary for Energy, Lands, and Minerals and a Bureau of Ocean Energy, an Ocean Energy Safety Service, and an Office of Natural Resources Revenue, and for other purposes.

OPENING STATEMENT:

The Honorable Doug Lamborn
Chairman

The Honorable Doc Hastings
Full Committee Chairman

WITNESSES AND TESTIMONY:

Panel I

The Honorable Michael Bromwich
Director
Bureau of Energy Management,
Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE)

Panel II

Albert Modiano
President
U.S. Oil & Gas Association
(Truth in Testimony Form)

Dr. Donald Boesch
President, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
Commissioner, National Commission on the
BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling
(Truth in Testimony Form)

BACKGROUND:

In July, Chairman Hastings released his discussion draft legislation that officially abolishes the Minerals Management Service to create three separate agencies and establishes a new Under Secretary of Energy, Lands and Minerals in order to elevate the role of American energy production on public lands within the Interior Department. This legislation builds on the Interior Department’s reorganization of its offshore energy agencies by writing reforms into law and further enhancing the accountability, efficiency, safety and ethical standards of offshore energy. These reforms will help expand American energy production in order to protect and create American jobs, grow the economy and lower energy costs, while ensuring that all activity is conducted with proper oversight.