House Republicans demand Obama officials testify about 2010 drilling ban

Washington (Platts)--18Jul2012/412 pm EDT/2012 GMT

A battle between House Republicans and the Obama administration over the 2010 deepwater drilling moratorium escalated Wednesday, when a key House committee called on administration officials to testify about the six-month drill ban.

The House Natural Resources Committee had previously subpoenaed documents surrounding a report compiled in the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The report, which recommended new offshore safety rules, served as the basis for a decision by Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to halt new deepwater drilling in the Gulf for six months.

Republicans say that Interior Department officials have not fully complied with the subpoena and have not agreed to have five key administration officials answer committee questions on the record.

The scheduling of a hearing on July 25 with the five officials as witnesses sets up a showdown with the administration, which could face new subpoenas if it refuses to make the officials available.

Committee Chairman Doc Hastings, Republican-Washington, has said he was particularly interested in how the report was edited by White House officials to falsely state that the decision to impose a six-month drilling ban was supported by several independent scientists who were asked to peer-review the report.

"Answers are expected from these Interior Department officials who have direct knowledge of the events leading up to the moratorium decision and the editing of the report that caused thousands of job losses, widespread economic harm, and significant reductions in our nation's energy production," Hastings said in a statement Wednesday.

An investigation by the Interior Department Inspector General concluded that the editing of the report was inadvertent. The administration apologized to the scientists after they complained that they had not explicitly backed the drilling moratorium.

"Immediately after being made aware of the error in the executive summary of the Report in June, 2010, the department moved quickly to clarify the scope of the peer review and to apologize to the peer reviewers," Interior spokesman Adam Fetcher said Wednesday. "In response to the committee's inquiries on this topic, we have repeatedly testified, responded to the committee's requests and produced nearly two thousand pages of documents. Interior has made clear that we intend to continue to cooperate with the committee's legitimate oversight interests."

The five officials asked to testify are Steve Black, counselor to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar; Neal Kemkar, special Assistant to Steve Black; Mary Katherine Ishee, former deputy administrator of the Minerals Management Service; Walter Cruickshank, former deputy administrator of the MMS; and Kallie Hanley, former White House liaison and special assistant.

--Gary Gentile, gary_gentile@platts.com
--Edited by Richard Rubin, richard_rubin@platts.com

 

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