EXCLUSIVE: Republican leaders of two key House panels are investigating the Biden administration over its fossil fuel leasing practices in response to a leaked “energy security” memo.
The Republican leaders — led by Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman, R-Ark. — informed a senior Department of the Interior (DOI) official Laura Daniel-Davis of the probe in a letter on Tuesday. The letter blasted DOI’s continued oil and gas leasing delays and Daniel-Davis’ decision, revealed in the memo leaked this month, to prioritize climate considerations over energy security.
Oversight Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs Chairman Pat Fallon, R-Texas, and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., also led the letter. Seventeen additional House Republicans signed onto the letter.
“The Biden Administration has obstructed America’s energy producers in an effort to force a radical Green New Deal agenda on the American people,” Comer told Fox News Digital in a statement. “The Democrats’ ongoing war against America’s oil and gas industry has only driven energy prices higher and families across the country are paying the price.”
BIDEN ADMIN MAKES STUNNING ADMISSION ON CLIMATE AGENDA IN LEAKED INTERNAL MEMO
House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is pictured during a hearing on Feb. 6. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
“Instead of pushing the Administration’s climate agenda, the Department of the Interior should be prioritizing economic development and American energy security,” Comer added. “Congress must ensure DOI is fulfilling their responsibility to advance policies that unleash American energy production and strengthen an industry that provides good-paying job opportunities.”
In late November, former Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Amanda Lefton penned the referenced memo, recommending DOI charge energy companies a royalty rate of 18.75%, the highest allowable rate under the law, for a large oil and gas lease sale in Alaska. Lefton acknowledged in the memo that charging a lower rate would likely “offer greater energy security,” but wouldn’t properly account for climate change.
Shortly after the private memo was sent, Daniel-Davis issued a public record of decision signing off on Lefton’s recommendation without mentioning its energy security implications. And in late December, the DOI held the nearly million-acre lease sale which garnered just one bid worth $63,983 for a 2,304-acre tract.
“The memo and your actions in this matter illustrate the pressing need for oversight of DOI’s permitting review processes and the Biden Administration’s prioritization of its climate agenda above states’ revenue streams, economic development, and the energy security of all Americans,” the Republicans stated in their letter to Daniel-Davis on Tuesday.
“The internal deliberations at BOEM to brazenly elevate President Biden’s radical eco-agenda ahead of common-sense policies call for greater congressional oversight of DOI and BOEM,” they continued.
Laura Daniel-Davis, President Biden’s failed nominee to be assistant secretary of the interior, testifies during her confirmation hearing last year. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via Getty Images)
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee, ultimately tanked Daniel-Davis’ nomination for DOI assistant secretary for land and minerals management as a result of the leaked memo.
Daniel-Davis remains the agency’s principal deputy secretary for land and minerals management.
“The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the U.S. Department of the Interior continue to fail in their basic responsibilities and instead are actively elevating President Biden’s radical eco-agenda above the best interests of the American people,” Westerman told Fox News Digital.
“These backroom dealings contribute to Biden’s ongoing energy crisis, threaten America’s national security, discourage future investment, and cause lasting damage to the economy,” he said. “Their work to actively advance politics over America’s energy needs are clear evidence of the dire need for congressional oversight.”
BIDEN ADMIN OFFICIAL HIT WITH ETHICS COMPLAINT FOR ROLE IN FEDERAL OIL LEASING PAUSE
And in the letter Tuesday, Westerman, Comer and the other Republicans further criticized Daniel-Davis for the DOI’s failure to finalize a five-year offshore leasing plan as required by federal law. Under the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the federal government is required to issue plans periodically laying out prospective oil and gas lease sales. The most recent plan, which was implemented in 2017, expired in June.
House Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., speaks to the media near the Diamondback Energy oil rig on Feb. 10, 2021, in Midland, Texas. (Eli Hartman/Odessa American via AP, File)
The letter added that the Biden administration’s “anti-energy agenda” was evidenced by the delay in releasing the plan and that the delay will “directly impede future U.S. energy production, constrict global supply, and drive energy prices higher.”
The GOP leaders noted that the administration has only held two offshore oil and gas lease sales — one in the Gulf of Mexico and the Alaska sale outlined in the November memo — since taking office. Those two lease sales, in addition to two upcoming sales, had previously been abandoned by the administration in 2022, but were reinstated by the Inflation Reduction Act.
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“The lack of certainty has reduced investment in domestic oil and gas development, limited American energy production, and is driving oil and gasoline prices above the $2.39 per gallon they were when President Biden took office,” the letter concluded.
“Moreover, the lack of leasing will have long-term impacts of exhausted producible acreage, increased reliability on foreign-sourced fuel, and jeopardized price stability for decades to come.”
As part of their investigation, the Republicans requested a series of documents and communications regarding administration oil and gas leasing decisions. They also requested a series of information related to the economic impacts of charging energy companies higher royalty rates for leases.
The DOI didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
