Bennett and Barrasso Tell Interior Department Stop Stalling Domestic Energy Production

Press Release

Senators Bob Bennett (R-Utah) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) sent a letter today to Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Ken Salazar, announcing their intention to introduce legislation to block DOI from implementing strict, new onshore oil and gas leasing policies that hinder job creation and energy development in the West.

"While this administration would like us to believe that they are concerned about jobs, deficits, and transparency, their actions speak louder than their words," said Bennett. "Employment is down, investment is down, and revenues to the federal treasury and our state treasuries are also down. This administration would like to blame the low price of natural gas for these numbers, but the facts tell a different story. Investments are indeed being made; they are just being made away from the public lands of the West. Unless the secretary changes course, I am prepared to do all I can, in cooperation with Senator Barrasso and other like-minded senators, to block the secretary from moving ahead on such ill advised policies."

"In this economy, Washington should establish clear policies that spur economic growth and create new jobs," said Barrasso. "This administration's restrictive onshore oil and gas leasing plans will only make our economy worse. It is extremely irresponsible for Washington to push more red tape that will kill jobs, increase uncertainty and weaken state budgets. If the Secretary won't cancel these policies, we will do our best to defeat them in Congress."

In January, DOI announced policies that would add new bureaucracy and red tape to the oil and gas leasing program and significantly lengthen the amount of time before energy production could begin.

In the letter to DOI, Bennett and Barrasso state that they are concerned that DOI is enacting policy reforms of huge magnitude without engaging the public and without analyzing the impacts.

According to industry data, in January 2008, there were 103 gas drilling rigs operating in the Uintah-Piceance basin. At the same time, there were 58 in the Louisiana-Mississippi Salt Basin known as Haynesville, one of the relatively new unconventional gas plays in northwest Louisiana. In March of 2010, the preponderance of drilling activity virtually changed hands: in the Uintah basin, the number dropped to 40 while it jumped to 146 in Haynesville. The vast majority of the drilling activity in Uintah, and elsewhere in the Rockies, is on public lands; and in Haynesville it is on private land.

Since the January announcement, DOI has not offered the American people an opportunity to comment on the plan.

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