Today, House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Republican Rob Bishop (R-Utah) sent a letter to the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Acting Secretary David Bernhardt commending the swift action taken to curtail impacts from the partial shutdown to domestic energy production. Both Republican and Democratic House Natural Resources Committee staff also received prompt briefings on the matter.

“DOI’s energy development activities on federal lands and offshore are critically important to our national economy and account for approximately 24% of total U.S. crude oil production and 13% of total U.S. natural gas production….Delays in holding scheduled lease sales or in the processing of applications to drill will inject uncertainty into the permitting process, and adversely impact federal and State treasuries.”

 “As such, I applaud DOI’s actions to utilize carryover funds from FY 2018 appropriations and certain congressionally mandated fees to ensure that key federal programs and processes remain functioning.”

 
Read the full letter HERE.

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