Federal lawmakers during a March 13 hearing questioned Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke over the Trump administration's plans for oil and gas drilling in federal areas and the U.S. Interior Department's proposed budget cuts for renewable energy development on public lands.
Zinke testified before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on the department's fiscal-year 2019 budget request. The Trump administration sought $11.7 billion in discretionary appropriations for the Interior, which Committee Chairman Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said is $1 billion less than current levels.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke testifies before the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on March 13, 2018. |
Of the total budget request, $792 million is for current and permanent funding of energy-related programs, with the budget aimed at "increasing funding for onshore and offshore oil and gas, expanding coal activities, and sustaining the current pace of renewable energy development," Zinke said in his prepared remarks.
As part of those efforts, the Interior recently proposed opening nearly all U.S. coastal areas to oil and gas drilling. The offshore drilling plan, which covers 2019-2024, drew sharp rebukes from governors in the Southeast, including Florida, which the Trump administration exempted from the plan shortly after releasing it.
Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate energy committee, called the leasing plan "unprecedented" and a "direct threat" to her state’s economy. She also accused the Interior of "playing a political game in choosing where to drill," with at least ten other states besides Florida opposed to extraction off their coasts.
Zinke said another draft of the five-year plan is coming this fall and that he and President Donald Trump were committed to addressing the concerns of opposing states.
Murkowski echoed those comments. "I always emphasize that [the five-year plan] was a starting point," she said. "Like a lot of members of this committee, I support a new plan that provides greater access, while protecting the areas where development may perhaps not be right at this time."
Zinke also took heat over the Interior's consideration of a possible 35% cut in royalty rates for offshore oil and gas production. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, asked Zinke if the Interior had compiled data to support lowering the royalty rates. Zinke replied, "I would say there is an argument" for the reduction.
"Argument is not data," King responded. "In other words, there’s been no economic analysis to justify this massive cut? These are resources that belong to the people of the United States. We’re taking the money out of the pockets of taxpayers."
Zinke said data on the possible rate cut "is not conclusive" and stressed that the Interior has not decided yet on whether to reduce royalties and by how much. The Interior is holding a lease sale later in March for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, which Zinke said will be a "bellwether" for producers’ interest in the region.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., questioned Zinke on how a royalty rate decline would affect payments to states such as Louisiana but expressed sympathy with the department's goals.
"There’s been a real difficulty in jump-starting development out there," Cassidy said.
Critics of the possible rate cut said reduced royalty revenues could hamper Trump’s plan to fund maintenance improvements on department-managed lands. The White House called for allowing a portion of revenues from expanded energy production in federal areas to go to a fund to help the Interior address an over $16 billion maintenance backlog, including more than $11 billion for the National Park Service. The receipts would go into that account until the fund reaches $18 billion.
The proposal was included in the White House’s infrastructure plan, released Feb. 12, as well as the Interior’s budget request for fiscal year 2019.
Renewable funding
Despite its work to ease oil and gas production, Zinke emphasized that the department has an "all of the above" policy on supporting energy development. But some lawmakers questioned the department’s commitment to renewable energy.
Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto, D-Nev., noted that the Trump administration proposed cutting the Interior’s renewables programs by 50% for fiscal year 2018 and 40% in 2019. "Looking at these numbers, it appears that renewable energy development is not an important part of the department’s charge," she said.
Zinke responded that the Interior based its proposal on "expected demand," which the agency’s modeling estimated at about $73 million. He also noted the large amount of acreage solar projects can take on federal lands and that "wind chops up a lot of birds."
"Every energy source has its consequences," Zinke said.
Even with those consequences in mind, the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management is evaluating opening up more federal lands in California to renewable energy development. The Trump administration is considering amending the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan to seek greater opportunities for energy development in Southern California after the Obama administration decided to open up only 7% of BLM lands in the area to renewable projects.

