On March 5, 2015, Energy and Mineral Resources (EMR) Subcommittee Chairman Doug Lamborn (CO-6) questioned Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell about the Administration’s recently released draft five-year (2017-2022) leasing plan for the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) that, despite a limited offering of one potential lease sale in the Atlantic, is the lowest number of lease sales proposed in the history of the program.  When asked if the Administration could guarantee that the Atlantic lease sale would be in the finalized proposal, Secretary Jewell’s response:  “No, I can’t guarantee anything.”
The Obama Administration has done little to reinvigorate investment in our offshore industry by increasing access to new areas of the OCS.  Despite an uptick in oil production from 2013 to 2014, offshore oil and gas production has still declined since 2009.  Unfortunately, President Obama’s budget doubles down on a record of offshore stagnancy.  The onslaught of new regulations for the offshore industry, including the Arctic Rule and the forthcoming well-containment rule also threatens future production.

Tomorrow, the EMR Subcommittee will hold a hearing to examine the President’s Fiscal Year 2016 budget request for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) and the Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR), and question how the agencies' spending and regulatory avalanche will impact the safe and responsible development of our nation’s offshore energy resources. 

Join us tomorrow, March 17, at 10:00AM, in 1324 Longworth, to see if the Administration will ever move from “No” or “I don’t know” or “Maybe later” to “Yes” for our nation’s offshore energy potential. 

Witnesses:

-Abby Hopper
 Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

-Vice Admiral Brian Salerno (USCG, Ret.)
 Director, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement

-Gregory Gould
 Director, Office of Natural Resource Revenue

Click here to view the hearing online.