The Obama administration Wednesday defended its timeline for rolling out its offshore drilling priorities for the next five years and reiterated plans to hold a western Gulf of Mexico lease sale in November or December.
Tommy Beaudreau, director of the Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, responded to criticism from Republicans in Congress who said the US would be without a long-term drilling plan for the first time in 40 years when the current one expires June 30.
Representative Doc Hastings, Republican-Washington, lashed out at the Obama administration for not wrapping up its 2012-17 leasing agenda by May 1. He said the Outer Continental Shelf Leasing Act directs the administration to give Congress 60 days to respond ahead of the July 1 deadline for adopting the plan.
"They let that deadline come and go without any action," Hastings said during a hearing of the House Natural Resources Committee. "This will be the first time the US will not have a plan in place since that requirement became law in the 1970s."
Beaudreau said Interior would adopt a final version by the end of June and then send it to Congress. Under the agency's interpretation, the law requires Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to approve the document by July 1 but does not insist he give Congress 60 days to comment on it ahead of that deadline.
'NO CONSEQUENCE' TO TIMING OF PLAN ISSUANCE
The OCS law prevents the administration from holding a lease sale in the absence of a five-year plan. Beaudreau said the 2012-17 plan would be in place in plenty of time for Interior to hold a lease sale for the western Gulf of Mexico in November or December.
"There are no lease sales anticipated during that period," he told Hastings. "So there is absolutely no consequence or significance to the timing of the issuance of this plan.
"The first sale, which again is consistent with the traditional rhythm of alternating lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico, is scheduled for November or December. We're not in jeopardy of postponing any sales as a result of the issuance of our plan."
Hastings asked Beaudreau to provide Interior's legal interpretation. He said after the session that he was unsure whether the timing remains an issue after hearing Beaudreau's response.
"There appears to be a conflict with the timing of this," he said. "That's why I asked for the opinion."
On June 20, Interior will hold Lease Sale 216/222 for blocks in the central Gulf of Mexico, the last offshore auction under the current plan.
During the June 20 auction, drillers will be able to bid on 7,250 unleased blocks spanning about 38 million acres of federal waters off the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. BOEM estimates the area might eventually result in the production of 1 billion barrels of oil and 4 Tcf of natural gas.
