Witnesses:
  Sally Jewell 
  Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior

On July 17, 2013, the House Committee on Natural Resources held an oversight hearing on “The Department of the Interior Operations, Management, and Rulemakings.” Representatives questioned Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Sally Jewell, who was sworn in on April 12 of this year, about topics including offshore energy, mining on federal lands, hydraulic fracturing regulations, water resource management, wildfires, and climate change.

Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-WA) began by discussing his concerns over the direction the Department of the Interior has taken under the Obama Administration. He criticized the DOI’s “restrictive” energy policies with respect to offshore drilling, hydraulic fracturing, and coal. He also complained of a “lack of transparency” in DOI operations. 

Peter DeFazio (D-OR) expressed interest in hearing about the DOI’s plans for alternative energy development and climate change adaptation. He also hoped to learn about the policy outlook for resource extraction, including hard rock mining, oil and natural gas leasing, and hydraulic fracturing.

In her opening statement, Jewell highlighted the DOI’s role in onshore, offshore, and renewable energy development; management of lands for recreation and wildlife; and responsibilities with respect to wildfires and water resources. She also emphasized the damaging impacts of sequestration on departmental operations, including wildfire response and remediation.

Many questions for Jewell revolved around energy issues. Representatives took strong opposing stances on offshore oil and gas exploration and drilling. Rob Wittman (R-VA) and Jeff Duncan (R-SC) expressed support for offshore drilling in the Atlantic and emphasized the importance of the DOI completing its 2017-2022 five-year plan for the Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program on schedule. Duncan additionally requested that Jewell work with the Senate to fast-track the Transboundary Hydrocarbons Agreement between the U.S. and Mexico, and Jewell responded that she would work to communicate the agreement’s importance. In contrast, Frank Pallone (D-NJ) expressed opposition to drilling in the Atlantic and expressed concern about the effects of initial geological and geophysical assessments on fish and marine mammals. DeFazio added that opening up new areas to offshore drilling is unnecessary when much of the currently available land has not been developed.

Representatives Wittman and Bill Flores (R-TX) raised questions about the impacts of the president’s National Ocean Policy Implementation Plan on offshore energy. The Plan includes a coastal and marine spatial planning component, which Flores worried could impact the use of the ocean by multiple stakeholders, including the energy industry. Jewell promised to look into the details and provide a response.

Jewell was also peppered with questions about the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) regulations on hydraulic fracturing. Representatives Doug Lamborn (R-CO), John Fleming (R-LA), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), and Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) questioned whether federal hydraulic fracturing regulations were necessary. Lamborn argued that state-level regulations could respond to the unique hydrology and geology of each state. Fleming added that he knew of no cases of human harm or groundwater contamination due to hydraulic fracturing and stated that federal regulations would unnecessarily delay permitting. Jewell responded that certain minimum regulations should be applied across all hydraulic fracturing projects, and added that some states have not yet developed their own hydraulic fracturing regulations and are looking to the federal government for guidance.

Matt Cartwright (D-PA) described hydraulic fracturing accidents that have caused human harm and argued for hydraulic fracturing regulations based on accurate information. Cartwright and Alan Lowenthal (D-CA) raised concerns about the industry-funded FracFocus website, which under BLM regulations would be the primary means of public disclosure of hydraulic fracturing fluid composition. Both cited a Harvard University study released in April detailing the problems with the website as a source of public information. Jewell responded that the website is a cost-effective option and that the DOI is open to considering other methods if the website does not work as intended.

Representatives Lamborn and Mullin criticized the President’s “war on coal.” Lamborn was especially critical of the Administration’s rewrite of the Stream Buffer Zone Rule, which requires coal companies to keep mining operations away from streams, and he decried the DOI’s slow pace in providing the Committee with documents about the Rule’s rewrite.

Other questions centered on resource extraction from federal lands. Dan Benishek (R-MI) and Mark Amodei (R-NV) criticized the slow pace of permitting for mineral and fossil energy extraction. DeFazio opined that the federal government should assess royalties for hardrock mining, so that some of the funds could be used to clean up abandoned mine lands.

Gohmert complained that the lack of timber harvest from federal lands was harming local economies that would benefit from the proceeds. Bishop and Lamborn added that timber harvesting and other means of fuels reduction are needed to reduce wildfire hazards. Lamborn criticized the Administration for cutting the budget for hazardous fuels reduction, and Lamborn and Amodei added that managing currently owned federal lands should take budgetary priority over acquiring new lands. Jewell responded that she was working to raise awareness of wildfire hazards with the Administration, and that land acquisitions could sometimes decrease management costs, for example, by removing “checkerboard” patterns of land ownership.

Jewell also responded to questions about the DOI’s plans to address water resource concerns in the West, the future of the National Blueways program, the DOI’s role in climate change adaptation and mitigation, and sequestration impacts on DOI operations.

Opening statements and witness testimony, as well as a video archive of the entire hearing, are available from the House Committee on Natural Resources website.

-BLH