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64-957 PDF 2011

DOI SPENDING AND THE 

PRESIDENT’S FISCAL YEAR 

2012 BUDGET PROPOSAL 

OVERSIGHT HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES 

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

Thursday, March 3, 2011 

Serial No. 112-5 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Natural Resources 

( 

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov 

or 

Committee address: http://resourcescommittee.house.gov 

(II) 

COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES 

DOC HASTINGS, WA, Chairman 

EDWARD J. MARKEY, MA, Ranking Democrat Member 

Don Young, AK 

John J. Duncan, Jr., TN 

Louie Gohmert, TX 

Rob Bishop, UT 

Doug Lamborn, CO 

Robert J. Wittman, VA 

Paul C. Broun, GA 

John Fleming, LA 

Mike Coffman, CO 

Tom McClintock, CA 

Glenn Thompson, PA 

Jeff Denham, CA 

Dan Benishek, MI 

David Rivera, FL 

Jeff Duncan, SC 

Scott R. Tipton, CO 

Paul A. Gosar, AZ 

Rau ́l R. Labrador, ID 

Kristi L. Noem, SD 

Steve Southerland II, FL 

Bill Flores, TX 

Andy Harris, MD 

Jeffrey M. Landry, LA 

Charles J. ‘‘Chuck’’ Fleischmann, TN 

Jon Runyan, NJ 

Bill Johnson, OH 

Dale E. Kildee, MI 

Peter A. DeFazio, OR 

Eni F.H. Faleomavaega, AS 

Frank Pallone, Jr., NJ 

Grace F. Napolitano, CA 

Rush D. Holt, NJ 

Rau ́l M. Grijalva, AZ 

Madeleine Z. Bordallo, GU 

Jim Costa, CA 

Dan Boren, OK 

Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, CNMI 

Martin Heinrich, NM 

Ben Ray Luja ́n, NM 

Donna M. Christensen, VI 

John P. Sarbanes, MD 

Betty Sutton, OH 

Niki Tsongas, MA 

Pedro R. Pierluisi, PR 

John Garamendi, CA 

Colleen W. Hanabusa, HI 

Todd Young, Chief of Staff 

Lisa Pittman, Chief Counsel 

Jeffrey Duncan, Democrat Staff Director 

Rick Healy, Democrat Chief Counsel 

(III) 

CONTENTS 

Page 

Hearing held on Thursday, March 3, 2011 ............................................................ 1 

Statement of Members: 

Benishek, Hon. Dan, a Representative in Congress from the State of 

Michigan, Prepared statement of ................................................................ 67 

Flores, Hon. Bill, a Representative in Congress from the State of Texas, 

Prepared statement of .................................................................................. 67 

Hastings, Hon. Doc, a Representative in Congress from the State of 

Washington .................................................................................................... 1 

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 3 

Markey, Hon. Edward J., a Representative in Congress from the State 

of Massachusetts ........................................................................................... 4 

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 5 

Tipton, Hon. Scott R., a Representative in Congress from the State of 

Colorado, Prepared statement of ................................................................. 68 

Statement of Witnesses: 

Salazar, Hon. Ken, Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior ................... 6 

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 9 

(1) 

OVERSIGHT HEARING TITLED ‘‘DEPARTMENT 

OF THE INTERIOR SPENDING AND THE 

PRESIDENT’S FISCAL YEAR 2012 BUDGET 

PROPOSAL.’’ 

Thursday, March 3, 2011 

U.S. House of Representatives 

Committee on Natural Resources 

Washington, D.C. 

The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:00 a.m. in Room 

1324, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Doc Hastings [Chairman of the Committee] presiding. 

Present: Representatives Hastings, Duncan of Tennessee, Bishop, 

Lamborn, Wittman, Broun, Fleming, Coffman, McClintock, 

Thompson, Denham, Benishek, Rivera, Duncan of South Carolina, 

Tipton, Gosar, Labrador, Noem, Southerland, Flores, Landry, 

Fleischmann, Runyan, Johnson, Markey, Kildee, DeFazio, 

Faleomavaega, Napolitano, Holt, Grijalva, Costa, Sablan, Heinrich, 

Luja ́n, Christensen, Sarbanes, Sutton, Tsongas, Garamendi, and 

Hanabusa. 

STATEMENT OF HON. DOC HASTINGS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN 

CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF WASHINGTON 

The CHAIRMAN. The Committee will come to order. The Chair 

notes the presence of a quorum. The Committee on Natural Resources is meeting today to hear testimony on the Department of 

the Interior Spending and the President’s Fiscal Year 2012 Budget 

Proposal. Under Committee Rule 4[f], opening statements are limited to the Chairman and the Ranking Member of the Committee 

so that we can hear from our witnesses, or hear as long as we can 

from our witnesses; however, I ask unanimous consent to include 

any Member that would like to have an opening statement in the 

record. Without objection, so ordered. Let us get started right 

away. The Chair wants to mention, the Secretary has been generous with his time. He is going to be with us until 1:00 and we 

want to utilize all the time that we possibly can, so I am going to 

be very, very strict on the five-minute rule and I will advise you 

of that, and when we get close, we all know how the lights work, 

and so I just want to remind people we are going to be as strict 

as we possibly can. 

Thank you, Secretary Salazar, for being here today. While the 

Committee did not, unfortunately, get a chance to hear from you 

on the last two of President Obama’s budgets, we are very pleased 

for you to be here today when there is certainly a need to control 

Federal spending. The purpose of today’s hearing is to examine the 

2 

spending programs of the Department of the Interior and the 

President’s proposed Fiscal Year 2012 budget. As everyone is 

aware, our country is currently facing a $14 trillion debt. This debt 

is threatening our economy, our nation’s ability to remain competitive and the future security of our children and our grandchildren. 

It is long past time to get serious about cutting spending and addressing this debt head on. This requires setting priorities and 

making tough choices on how best to direct scarce taxpayer dollars. 

When it comes to highlighting spending, the taxpayers simply cannot afford it. I must bring attention, Mr. Secretary, to the $900 

million in the President’s budget request for the Land and Water 

Conservation Fund which is primarily used to purchase Federal 

land. This represents a $553 million increase over the 2008 levels. 

I say this because the Department of the Interior has a maintenance backlog on public lands that is in the billions of dollars. I 

believe the government has the responsibility to maintain and care 

for existing lands before spending money that we don’t have on 

more, and more and more land. In addition to spending, we will examine how several Interior Department policies are directly costing 

American jobs. 

This includes the regulatory drought in California to the San 

Joaquin Valley where the government has withheld valuable water 

from communities, prioritizing the needs of a three-inch fish over 

thousands of American workers and their families, and the Department’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement’s 

pursuit of sweeping changes to stream regulations that, by their 

own admission, will cost thousands of Americans’ jobs. Finally, no 

discussion about jobs is complete without mentioning the President’s de facto moratorium on the Gulf of Mexico that has left 

thousands of workers without jobs. Gasoline prices have risen nearly 20 cents last week. Higher gasoline prices not only mean increased costs at the pump, but families must pay more for groceries, and farmers’ and small businesses’ costs will go up. 

Higher gasoline prices have a substantial impact on every American and every part of our fragile economy, but instead of focusing 

on ways to produce our own American energy, this Administration 

is deepening America’s dependence on unstable and hostile foreign 

countries. The de facto drilling moratorium in the Gulf is simply 

the latest example of this. The official moratorium on deepwater 

drilling was lifted over four months ago, yet the Administration 

just this week, and I am glad they did, issued their first permit. 

The people of the Gulf need more than just one token permit. One 

permit will not put thousands of workers back to work. I also hope 

to hear further details on today’s $358 million budget request for 

the Bureau of Ocean Energy and Management, Regulation and Enforcement. This is a $119 million increase above the Fiscal 

Year 2010 levels. 

We all share the desire to make offshore drilling safe, but we 

need to make certain that this money will be used to actually improve and resume offshore drilling. I believe we can agree that bigger government does not equate into better government. The goal 

should be to make this agency better and faster, not bigger and 

slower. In light of the current fiscal crisis, it is important to remember that American energy production offshore and on public 

3 

lands generates billions of dollars of revenue to the government. 

Not only do we create jobs by producing energy, but we help lower 

the debt and our deficit and our dependence on foreign countries. 

So I just have to simply say in closing, Mr. Secretary, that your 

budget has a $60 billion tax increase on American energy, and I 

do not believe that is what Americans need at this point and we 

would like to pursue that with you also. So, with that, I will yield 

back what time I do not have and I will recognize the Ranking 

Member for his opening statement. 

[The prepared statement of Chairman Hastings follows:] 

Statement of The Honorable Doc Hastings, Chairman, 

Committee on Natural Resources 

Thank you Secretary Salazar for being here today. While the Committee didn’t 

get a chance to hear from you on President Obama’s last two budgets, we’re pleased 

to have you here this year at a time when there is a great need to control spending. 

The purpose of today’s hearing is to examine the spending and programs of the 

Department of the Interior and the President’s proposed Fiscal Year 2012 budget. 

As everyone is aware, our country is currently facing a $14 trillion debt. This debt 

is threatening our economy, our nation’s ability to remain competitive, and the future security of our children and grandchildren. It’s long past time to get serious 

about cutting spending and addressing this debt head-on. That will require setting 

priorities and making tough choices on how best to direct scarce taxpayer dollars. 

When it comes to highlighting spending that taxpayers simply cannot afford, I must bring attention to the $900 million in the President’s budget for the Land and 

Water Conservation Fund, which is primarily used to purchase more federal land. 

This represents a $553 million increase above Fiscal Year 2008 levels. 

The Department of the Interior has a maintenance backlog on public lands that 

measures in the billions of dollars. 

I believe the government has a responsibility to maintain and care for our existing 

lands before spending money we don’t have to acquire more and more and more 

land. 

In addition to spending, we will also examine how several Interior Department 

policies are directly costing American jobs. 

This includes the regulatory drought in California’s San Joaquin Valley where the 

government has withheld valuable water from communities, prioritizing the needs 

of a three-inch fish over thousands of workers and their families. 

And the Department’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement’s 

pursuit of sweeping changes to stream regulations that by their own admission will 

cost thousands of American jobs. 

Finally, no discussion about jobs is complete without mentioning the President’s 

de facto drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico that has left thousands of Americans out of work. 

Gasoline prices have risen 20 cents in the last week. Higher gasoline prices not 

only mean increased costs at the pump, but that families will pay more for groceries, farmers will pay more for farm, and small businesses will pay more to operate. Higher gasoline prices have a substantial impact on every American and every 

aspect of our already fragile economy. 

But instead of focusing on ways to produce our own American energy, the Administration is deepening America’s dependence on unstable, hostile foreign countries. 

The de facto drilling moratorium in the Gulf is simply the latest example of the 

Administration blocking access to our nation’s energy resources. 

The official moratorium on deepwater drilling was lifted over four months ago, yet 

the Administration just this week issued the first permit. The people in the Gulf 

need more than just one token permit. One permit will not put thousands of people 

back to work. We need to see real progress and the immediate issuance of additional 

permits. 

I also hope to hear further details today on the $358.4 million budget request for 

the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. This is 

$119.3 million above Fiscal Year 2010 levels. We all share the goal of wanting to 

make U.S. offshore drilling the safest in the world, and I don’t doubt that additional 

funds will be needed to hire more inspectors. But we need to make certain that this 

money will be used to actually improve safety and resume offshore drilling. 

I believe most of us can agree that bigger government does not generally equate 

to better government. This Committee is specifically interested in how increased 

4 

funding and staffing will improve the process and foster increased American energy 

production. The goal should be take make this agency better and faster, not bigger 

and slower. 

In light of the current fiscal crisis, it’s important to remember that American energy production offshore and on public lands generates billions of dollars in revenue. 

Not only do we create jobs by producing energy in the U.S., but we help lower the 

debt and deficit, and we prevent our energy dollars from being sent overseas to foreign countries. 

But instead of increasing production and thereby reducing the deficit, the Administration has proposed to increase the cost of producing American energy by raising 

a multitude of taxes. The President’s budget includes over $60 billion in higher 

taxes and fees on American energy production. This will lead to less energy, higher 

costs and fewer American jobs. 

If you increase the cost of producing gasoline, you raise the price of gasoline at 

the pump. The last thing families and businesses need right now is for gasoline 

prices to climb even higher. 

These are just a few of the issues I hope to further discuss at today’s hearing and 

I look forward to hearing from the Secretary. 

STATEMENT OF HON. EDWARD MARKEY, A REPRESENTATIVE 

IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, very much, and thank 

you, Mr. Secretary, for being here. I am struck by two facts from 

your testimony, Mr. Secretary. First, Interior reports that the programs and activities of the Department support more than 1.3 million jobs and $370 million in economic activity annually. Second, 

Interior is unique in that the Department generates more revenue 

for the U.S. Treasury than its annual appropriation. While our 

Federal deficit is in the red, your Department is in the black. Given 

these tough economic times and the enormous profits made by 

using public resources, I welcome your proposal that the oil and 

gas industry should pay a larger share of the government’s costs 

for inspections and permits following years of lax oversight. Even, 

I think, the Members in the majority recognized in their spending 

bill that more money should be diverted to robust inspections. 

Some have criticized the slow pace of oil and gas leasing. Of 

course, what the critics fail to mention is that oil production last 

year on Federal lands was higher than in the last year of the Bush 

Administration, and they do not disclose that oil companies are not 

even producing on many of the leases that they currently hold. 

While 80 million acres are presently under lease, the oil and gas 

industry is only producing on about 19.5 million of those acres. 

Last year the Bureau of Land Management issued 4,090 permits 

to drill but operations began on only 1,480 of those permits. It is 

as if the oil and gas industry first asked for dessert, then ate onefourth of their dinner, and then complained to the manager about 

the service. On top of that, they want to stiff you on the tip. 

These charges are especially absurd considering this week that 

the Interior Department approved the deepwater drilling permit in 

the Gulf of Mexico. The permitted company was the first to demonstrate that it had the resources and capability to respond to an 

accident as part of their drilling request. For those who say that 

this post-bill process has been political, I think the irony of BP 

holding the largest stake in the well for the permit you approved 

left everyone that was questioning you on the question of whether 

or not you were being political, that instead you have played it very 

straight, and BP won that first lease. Mr. Secretary, I particularly 

5 

appreciate your commitment to renewable energy. When you took 

office, there had been little effort in this area. Now you have a goal 

of permitting 10,000 megawatts by 2012. 

These efforts recognize that we can’t just drill our way out of our 

dependence on foreign oil. We need to develop clean energy alternatives that create American jobs. The United States uses 25 percent of the world’s oil, yet we have just two percent of the world’s 

oil reserves. The world price is set by OPEC and increases in oil 

production in the United States over the last five years still cannot 

impact the price of oil. On climate change and endangered species, 

there are those who prefer to deny reality and ignore the warning 

signs of melting polar ice, crop killing droughts and deadly floods, 

but I am glad to see that Interior attempts to deal with climate 

change before our iconic species become but a memory. Mr. Secretary, I also welcome your proposal for full funding of the Land 

and Water Conservation Fund. This fund is based on the simple 

premise that as we deplete one resource, we should preserve other 

natural resources. We thank you for your leadership and visionary 

stewardship of the agency since you have been sworn in. We welcome you here today. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Markey follows:] 

Statement of The Honorable Edward J. Markey, Ranking Member, 

Committee on Natural Resources 

Mr. Secretary, I appreciate your presence here today. 

I am struck by two facts from your testimony. First, Interior reports that the programs and activities of the Department support more than 1.3 million jobs and $370 

million in economic activity annually. Second, Interior is unique in that the Department generates more revenue for the U.S. Treasury than its annual appropriation. 

While our federal deficit is in the red, your Department is in the black. 

Given these tough economic times and the enormous profits made by using public 

resources, I welcome your proposal that the oil and gas industry should pay a larger 

share of the government’s costs for inspections and permits following years of lax 

oversight. Even my Republican friends recognized in their spending bill that more 

money should be diverted to robust inspections. 

Some have criticized the slow pace of oil and gas leasing. Of course, what the critics fail to mention is that oil production last year on federal lands was higher than 

in the last year of the Bush Administration. And they won’t disclose that oil companies are not even producing on many of the leases they currently hold. While 80 

million acres are presently under lease, the oil and gas industry is only producing 

on 19.5 million of those acres. Last year, the Bureau of Land Management issued 

4,090 permits to drill, but operations began on only 1,480 of those permits. 

It’s as if the oil and gas industry first asked for dessert, then ate 1/4th of their 

dinner, and then complained to the manager about the service. On top of that, they 

want to stiff you on the tip. 

These charges are especially absurd considering that this week the Interior Department approved a deepwater drilling permit in the Gulf of Mexico. The permitted 

company was the first to demonstrate that it had the resources and capability to 

respond to an accident as part of their drilling request. 

And for those who say this post-spill process has been political, I think the irony 

of BP holding the largest stake in the well for the permit you approved tells everyone you are not playing politics, you are playing it straight. 

Mr. Secretary, I particularly appreciate your commitment to renewable energy. 

When you took office there had been little effort in this area. Now, you have a goal 

of permitting 10,000 megawatts by 2012. 

These efforts recognize that we can’t just drill our way out of our dependence on 

foreign oil. We need to develop clean energy alternatives that create American jobs. 

The United States uses 25 percent of the world’s oil, yet we have just 2 percent 

of the world’s reserves. The world price is still set by OPEC. And increases in oil 

production in the United States over the past five years have done nothing to reduce 

the price of oil. 

6 

On climate change and endangered species there are those who prefer to stick 

their head in the sand and ignore the warning signs of melting polar ice, crop-killing 

droughts and deadly floods. I am glad to see Interior attempt to deal with climate 

change before our iconic species become but a memory. 

Mr. Secretary, I also welcome your proposal for full funding of the Land and 

Water Conservation Fund. This fund is based on the simple premise that as we deplete one resource, we should preserve other natural resources. 

Mr. Secretary, I thank you again for your presence here today and I look forward 

to your testimony. 

The CHAIRMAN. I thank the Ranking Member, and I thank very 

much his looking at the time, like I did not, so I thank him for 

that. We are now ready to hear from our only witness today, The 

Honorable Ken Salazar, the Secretary of the Interior. Mr. Secretary, thank you very much for being here. I would just remind 

you, like all witnesses, your written statement will appear in the 

record. I would like you to obviously observe that five-minute timeframe as much as you possibly can. The clerk will start the timer, 

and, as you know, the green light goes for four minutes, yellow 

light for one and the red light, your time is up. If you could adhere 

to that, I would certainly appreciate that. So, Mr. Secretary, thank 

you very, very much for being here, and you may begin. 

STATEMENT OF HON. KEN SALAZAR, SECRETARY, U.S. 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR; ACCOMPANIED BY HON. 

DAVID J. HAYES, DEPUTY SECRETARY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF 

THE INTERIOR; AND PAMELA K. HAZE, DEPUTY ASSISTANT 

SECRETARY, BUDGET, FINANCE, PERFORMANCE, AND 

ACQUISITION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Secretary SALAZAR. Thank you very much, Chairman Hastings 

and Ranking Member Markey and the distinguished members of 

this Committee. It is an honor and a privilege to serve this nation 

and to serve all of you as the Secretary of the Interior and to be 

part of President Obama’s cabinet. With me today is David Hayes 

who is the Deputy Secretary of the Interior and Pam Haze who is 

a Budget Director at Interior so that they are available to answer 

questions as well. Let me start by saying that the mission of the 

Department of the Interior is a mission which is extraordinarily 

important to each and every one of you and to this nation. It is a 

mission which makes the Secretary of the Interior the custodian of 

America’s natural resources and the custodian of America’s history. 

It is a mission which I very much enjoy working on. 

For those of you who are not as familiar as others with the 

Department of the Interior, we manage 20 percent of the land mass 

of the United States of America, 553 national wildlife refuges and 

almost 400 national parks throughout the United States of America. We also manage 1.75 million acres of the Outer Continental 

Shelf where much of our oil and gas production takes place and 

have important responsibilities, trust responsibilities, for the 

Native Americans and the reservations in our country. As we see 

the Department of the Interior, and I think both the Chairman and 

the Ranking Member got it right where they talked about some of 

the work that we do in terms of job production, we see our efforts 

at the Department of the Interior as being an economic generator 

for our economy, and certainly the numbers that we have in terms 

7 

of the creation of millions of jobs from the outdoor industry, as well 

as from energy production is something that we are very proud of. 

The budget that the President presented to the Congress for 

2012 is a freeze budget. It is a budget that cuts $1.1 billion, I 

think, in these times of fiscal austerity, and where everyone in the 

country is saying that we need to be fiscally tough, it is a budget 

that represents some tough choices. We have cut $1.1 billion, including looking at administrative savings which are important, 

such as travel, where we are cutting $42 million from the budget, 

information technology $36 million, procurement reform efforts 

that we have undertaken to make government work better where 

we are saving $53 million, so overall, cuts of $1.1 billion that are 

accounted for in the budget that we have presented in front of you. 

I want to briefly spend some time speaking about energy, both 

conventional and renewable, because I know that is important to 

the members of this Committee, the conservation work, which includes the Land and Water Conversation Fund which you raised in 

your opening statements, a brief comment about water, and finally, 

a comment about youth and the efforts that we have underway. 

First, with respect to energy, we recognize the role that we play at 

the Department of the Interior in terms of powering our economy 

through the energy that is produced in America, and that is both 

conventional as well as renewable energy. Our goal is simply to 

have a robust oil and gas program for the United States in both 

America’s oceans and on America’s lands. With respect to our goal 

in terms of having that kind of program underway, we need to keep 

in mind the protection of people and the protection of the environment. 

Certainly for some it may seem like a distant memory, for others 

it is not, and that is the blowup of the Macondo well and the Deepwater Horizon last year on April 20 should remind us all that that 

was an area where over 30 years of neglect resulted in the kind 

of catastrophe that poured nearly five million barrels of oil out into 

the ocean in the Gulf of Mexico, and so how we move forward with 

safe production that protects people and the environment is of the 

highest order, and that is why in front of you there is a request 

to beef up significantly the funding that is available for the Bureau 

of Ocean Energy Management and Regulation. That money will go 

into inspections and to improve permitting and a number of other 

things that will help us get the job done. 

With respect to onshore oil and gas production, we continue to 

lease oil and gas throughout the United States on BLM lands and 

lands that we manage on behalf of the Forest Service as well and 

have issued over 5,000 permits in 2010. We will issue about 7,000 

permits in 2011 and have a robust program to move forward with 

conventional energy. On the renewable energy side, to Ranking 

Member Markey’s point on renewable energy, I am proud of the 

fact that the Department of the Interior over the last two years has 

permitted over 3,700 megawatts of renewable energy. It is a huge 

amount of energy which includes the largest solar scale facilities in 

the world, as well as capturing the power of the wind, and geothermal and other renewable energies in places like Congressman 

Bishop’s district, in Milford, Utah, where I have been on different 

8 

occasions to look at some of the renewable energy efforts that are 

underway in Utah, especially there, in Milford, Utah. 

We expect in the 2012 budget that on the renewable energy front 

we will be able to get to a level of 10,000 megawatts of power from 

renewable energy. On conservation, just to make a few points on 

conservation and what is included in the budget, again, I think it 

is important for all of us, especially those from the West, to recognize the importance of what tourism and job creation occurs when 

we have places, such as my Colorado colleagues here know, from 

Rocky Mountain National Park and so many of the other places 

there, or whether it is in places like the Everglades where you have 

a huge number of people who actually come to our states because 

of the great tourism opportunities that are there. Your state, 

Chairman Hastings, is no exception to that, where we see ourselves 

as being a huge economic generator because of the fact that people 

come there to hunt, and fish, and bike, and hike and enjoy the outdoors of your great state. 

Indeed, the Outdoor Recreation Industry Foundation estimates 

that there are 6.5 million jobs that are created every year through 

these outdoor activities that occur here in our country. Mr. Chairman, I know my time is up, but I would respectfully request two 

more minutes to finish my statement. 

The CHAIRMAN. Go right ahead, Mr. Secretary. 

Secretary SALAZAR. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So as we move 

forward with the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative which the 

President announced, it is an effort to keep alive the conservation 

legacy which was started by a great Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, when he set aside Yosemite during the midst of the 

Civil War, the conservation legacy of Teddy Roosevelt and what he 

did at the beginning of the last century and Franklin Roosevelt 

continuing that effort during the most difficult times of The 

Depression and standing up the country for World War II. The investments that we look to make in terms of conservation do include 

full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. 

When that program was created in the 1960s, it was thought 

that the resources that we would be taking from our oceans would 

provide a funding stream for conservation for the long term. Sadly, 

over the last 50 years, that has not happened, and instead, because 

of the appropriations mechanisms, only about half of the money 

that should have gone to conservation has actually gone to conservation. So the ups and downs really have meant that the Land 

and Water Conservation Fund has not been fully funded. This is 

an historic effort on the part of the President to fund it in the context of making sure that we are standing up the economy and looking ahead at the future in the same way that President Teddy Roosevelt did 102, 103 years ago. 

Finally, let me just make a quick comment about water. For 

many of you, especially from arid states in the West, you know the 

importance of water. We have a WaterSMART program which we 

have started since I became Secretary of the Interior. This last 

year alone, in 2010, through the funding of 37 projects we were 

able to conserve 490,000 acre-feet of water through these conservation programs. When we look at those of you who share from the 

seven states of the Colorado River Basin, we are looking at 20 perVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:08 Jun 17, 2011 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 L:\DOCS\64957.TXT Hresour1 PsN: KATHY
9 

cent declines of water in the Colorado River Basin. We are doing 

the same thing in looking at some declines in terms of water availability in many other parts of the country, so it is important that 

we continue to invest in these kinds of water conservation programs. 

Finally, with respect to youth and the opportunities that we create for young people of America and we address the jobs issues of 

this country, we have in the Department of the Interior hired about 

21,000 people just in 2010. We hope to continue to be able to do 

that because these are young people who come and work in the 

Department of the Interior. (1) They help us do the work that is 

necessary for our mission; and (2) we provide training to young 

people who will become the conservation leaders of our country in 

the future and the workers of the Department of the Interior. In 

conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I look forward to working, with you with 

Ranking Member Markey, with members of this Committee on so 

many issues that are important to the United States of America. 

[The prepared statement of Secretary Salazar follows:] 

Statement of The Honorable Ken Salazar, Secretary, 

U.S. Department of the Interior 

Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, I am pleased to be here today to 

present the details of the 2012 budget request for the Department of the Interior. 

I want to thank the members of this Committee for your support and interest in 

our Department. The 2012 budget builds on that strong foundation with $12.2 billion requested for 

the Department of the Interior. This is a freeze at the 2010 level, including significant reductions and savings totaling $1.1 billion, while funding key priorities. The 

budget demonstrates that we can responsibly cut the deficit, while investing to win 

the future and sustain the national recovery. Our budget promotes the actions and 

programs that America told us are important in 50 listening sessions across the 

Country. With that inspiration we developed a new 21st Century conservation 

vision—America’s Great Outdoors. The budget continues to advance efforts that you 

have facilitated in renewable energy and sustainable water conservation, cooperative landscape conservation, youth in the outdoors, and reforms in our conventional 

energy programs. 

Introduction 

Interior’s mission is simple but profound—to protect America’s resources and cultural heritage and honor the Nation’s trust responsibilities to American Indians and 

Alaska Natives. Interior’s people and programs impact all Americans. 

The Department is the steward of 20 percent of the Nation’s lands including 

national parks, national wildlife refuges, and the public lands. Interior manages 

public lands and the Outer Continental Shelf—providing access for renewable and 

conventional energy development and overseeing the protection and restoration of 

surface-mined lands. The Department of the Interior is also the largest supplier and 

manager of water in the 17 western States and provides hydropower resources used 

to power much of the country. Interior is responsible for migratory wildlife and endangered species conservation as well as the preservation of the Nation’s historic 

and cultural resources. The Department supports cutting edge research in the earth 

sciences—geology, hydrology, and biology—to inform resource management decisions 

at Interior and improve scientific understanding worldwide. The Department of the 

Interior also fulfills the Nation’s unique trust responsibilities to American Indians 

and Alaska Natives, and provides financial and technical assistance for the insular 

areas. 

The Department makes significant contributions to the Nation measured in economic terms. The Interior Department supports over 1.3 million jobs and over $370 

billion in economic activity each year. Parks, refuges, and monuments generate over 

$24 billion in economic activity from recreation and tourism. Conventional and renewable energy produced on Interior lands and waters results in about $295 billion 

in economic benefits and the water managed by Interior supports over $25 billion 

in agriculture. The American outdoor industry estimates 6.5 million jobs are created 

every year from outdoor activities. 

10 

In measures that cannot be translated into dollars and cents, the Department protects the Nation’s monuments and priceless landscapes, conserves wildlife and fisheries, offers unparalleled recreational opportunities, protects and interprets the cultural collections that tell America’s history, and manages resources that help to fulfill the Nation’s demands for energy, minerals, and water. Through its trust responsibilities on behalf of American Indians and Alaska Natives, Interior supports tribal 

self-governance and the strengthening of Indian communities. For affiliated island 

communities, the Department fulfills important commitments providing much needed technical and financial assistance. 

2010—A Year of Challenge and Success 

At the start of the Administration in 2009, I set Interior on a course to create 

a comprehensive strategy to advance a new energy frontier; tackle the impacts of 

a changing landscape; improve the sustainable use of water; engage youth in the 

outdoors; and improve the safety of Indian communities. These priority goals integrate the strengths of the Department’s diverse bureaus and offices to address key 

challenges of importance to the American public. Interior has been making progress 

in these areas, including: • Approving 12 renewable energy projects on public lands that when built, will 

produce almost 4,000 megawatts of energy, enough energy to power close to 

one million American homes, and create thousands of construction and operational jobs. 

• Designating more than 5,000 miles of transmission corridors on public lands 

to facilitate siting and permitting of transmission lines and processing more 

than 30 applications for major transmission corridor rights-of-way. 

• Establishing three of eight planned regional Climate Science Centers and 

nine of 21 Landscape Conservation Cooperatives. 

• Issuing grants to water districts and other water delivery authorities resulting in the conservation of 150,000 acre-feet of water. 

• Increasing the number of youth employed in conservation through Interior or 

its partners increased by 45 percent over 2009 levels. 

• Reducing overall crime in four Indian communities as a result of a concerted 

effort to increase deployed law enforcement officers, and conduct training in 

community policing techniques, and engage the communities in law enforcement efforts. 

The tragic events resulting from the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in April of last year drew the attention of the world to the Gulf of 

Mexico. Much of the focus of Interior’s bureaus and offices in 2010 was on oil spill 

response, Gulf Coast restoration, strengthening safety and environmental standards 

for offshore energy production, and re-organizing and reforming the former Minerals 

Management Service (MMS). Nonetheless, the Department advanced other key priorities and strategic goals that will improve the conservation and management of 

natural and cultural resources into the future: 

• Interior, along with the Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Council on Environmental Quality, participated in 

the White House Conference on America’s Great Outdoors and held 50 public 

listening sessions across the Country that have helped shape a conservation 

vision and strategy for the 21st Century. We have released a report, America’s Great Outdoors: A Promise to Future Generations, that lays out a partnership agenda for 21st century conservation and recreation. 

• In the spirit of America’s Great Outdoors, we welcomed new national wildlife 

refuges in Kansas and Colorado and proposed a new conservation area in 

Florida at the headwaters to the Everglades. These refuges mark a new era 

of conservation for the Department, one that is community-driven, sciencebased, and takes into account entire ecosystems and working landscapes. 

• The Department worked with others to develop an action plan to bring relief 

for the drought-stricken California Bay-Delta area, invested over $500 million 

in major water projects over the past two years, and moved forward on longstanding water availability issues in the Colorado River Basin. 

• In December, I issued my recommendation to Congress to undertake an additional 5.5 miles of bridging on the Tamiami Trail in the Everglades above and 

beyond the 1-mile bridge now under construction. When combined with other 

planned work in the Everglades Agricultural Area and water conservation 

areas, this project should restore 100 percent of historic water quantity and 

flow to Everglades National Park. 

• With the help of Congress, we brought about resolution of the Cobell v. Salazar settlement and resolved four long-standing Indian water rights issues 

through enactment of the Claims Resolution Act of 2010. We also completed 

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negotiation of a new Compact of Free Association with the island of Palau 

which awaits Congressional approval. • In December of last year, the President hosted the second White House Tribal 

Nations Conference bringing together tribal leaders from across the United 

States; we are improving the Nation-to-Nation relationship with 565 Tribes. 

Interior’s Budget In Context 

In his State of the Union address in January, President Obama spoke of what it 

will take to ‘‘win the future.’’ He challenged the Nation to encourage American innovation, educate young people, rebuild America, and shrink the burden of mounting 

debt. Interior’s 2012 budget request responds to this challenge. The investments 

proposed in this budget are balanced by reductions in other programs—recognizing 

the Nation’s need to live within its means to ensure a legacy of economic strength. 

Taking Fiscal Responsibility – Interior’s 2012 budget must be viewed in context of the difficult fiscal times facing the Nation and the President’s freeze on discretionary funding. The 2012 budget reflects many difficult budget choices, cutting 

worthy programs and advancing efforts to shrink Federal spending. The budget contains reductions totaling $1.1 billion or 8.9 percent of the 2010 Enacted/2011 CR 

level. Staffing reductions are anticipated in some program areas, which will be 

achieved through attrition, outplacement, and buy-outs to minimize the need to conduct reductions in force to the greatest extent possible. These reductions are a necessary component of maintaining overall fiscal restraint while allowing us to invest 

additional resources in core agency priorities. 

This budget is responsible. The $12.2 billion budget funds important investments 

by eliminating and reducing lower priority programs, deferring projects, reducing redundancy, streamlining management, and capturing administrative and efficiency 

savings. It maintains funding levels for core functions that are vital to uphold stewardship responsibilities and sustain key initiatives. The 2012 request includes $11.2 

billion for programs funded by the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriation. This is $69.2 million, or less than one percent, above the 2010 enacted 

level and $87.6 million above the 2011 annualized CR level. The 2012 request for 

the Bureau of Reclamation and the Central Utah Project Completion Act, funded 

in the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, is $1.1 billion in current 

appropriations, $88.3 million or eight percent below the 2010 enacted level and 

$78.3 million or seven percent below the 2011 CR level. 

Permanent funding that becomes available as a result of existing legislation without further action by the Congress results in an additional $5.6 billion, for $17.8 

billion in total budget authority for Interior in 2012. 

Program Reductions and Terminations—Interior’s $12.2 billion budget proposal includes $913.6 million in program terminations and program reductions of 

which $188.0 million are featured in the President’s list of terminations and reductions. This also includes the elimination of $47.6 million in congressional earmarks 

not related to land acquisition or construction. 

These cuts were identified as part of a top to bottom review that considered mission criticality, the ability of partners to support the function, duplication or overlap, relevance to key initiatives, program performance, the relevance of timing and 

if the activity could be deferred, and short- and long-term strategic goals. 

Examples of the tough decisions made in 2012 include terminating the $7.0 million Rural Fire Assistance program which is duplicative of other fire assistance 

grant programs managed by the Department of Homeland Security and Department 

of Agriculture. The National Park Service’s Save America’s Treasures and Preserve 

America programs are eliminated in 2012 to focus NPS resources on the highest priority park requirements. The NPS Heritage Partnership Programs are reduced by 

half to encourage self-sufficiency among well-established National Heritage Areas 

while continuing support for newer areas. In the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Indian Guaranteed Loan Program is reduced 63 percent in 2012 pending an evaluation of the program’s effectiveness and alternatives to improve program performance. 

Program reductions are proposed in every bureau and office in the Department. 

One area that is reduced Interior-wide is construction. The budget includes $178.8 

million for the Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service construction programs; in total this is a reduction of $100.2 million or 36 percent from the 2010 enacted/2011 CR level. To achieve these reductions, 

the Department has frozen construction of new facilities in 2012 and deferred construction of replacement facilities. Interior’s 2012 request for construction focuses on 

the highest priority health and safety and mission critical projects and defers lower 

priorities. The Department is committed to the repair and rehabilitation of current 

assets and funding for facility maintenance is held nearly level. The 2012 budget 

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also slows the construction of major water management programs, including the 

Central Utah Completion Act. The 2012 budget request for CUPCA is $33.0 million, 

a reduction of $9.0 million. 

Administrative Savings – The budget includes $99.4 million in reductions reflecting administrative cost savings as part of the Administration’s Accountable Government Initiative. These reductions will be generated by efficiencies throughout Interior, changing how the Department manages travel, employee relocation, acquisition of supplies and printing services, and the use of advisory services. These reductions are in addition to $62.0 million in travel, information technology, and strategic 

sourcing savings identified as part of the President’s 2011 request. These reductions 

are sustained in the 2012 request along with bureau-specific efficiencies. • The Department will achieve $42 million in savings in travel and relocation 

through improved management at the program level and re-examination of 

Departmental policies. • An estimated $53 million in savings will be achieved through acquisition improvement initiatives including shared contracts to use Interior-wide for the 

acquisition of commodities, supplies, and services. In 2011, Interior is implementing Department-wide strategic sourcing initiatives for office supplies and 

copier-based multifunctional devices. Savings from expanded strategic 

sourcing is one component of a comprehensive plan to improve acquisition 

practices throughout Interior. 

• Efficiency savings from expanded strategic sourcing is one component of a 

comprehensive plan to improve acquisition practices throughout Interior. Another component to reduce advisory services spending will achieve an approximate $15 million in savings. 

• Through careful planning, strategic investments, and unprecedented cooperation, significant opportunity exists to realize efficiencies in the Department’s 

IT infrastructure of an estimated $36 million, including energy and cost savings. The Department has identified five primary focus areas: risk-based information security services, infrastructure consolidation, unified messaging, 

workstation ratio reduction, and radio site consolidation. 

• The Department’s 2012 budget reflects a freeze on Federal salaries for 2011 

and 2012 and requirements to address fixed cost increases are limited to anticipated changes in the Federal contributions to health benefits, GSA rent 

increases, changes in workers and unemployment compensation costs, and 

specific contract requirements for P.L. 93–638 agreements. 

Cost Recovery – The budget proposes to increase cost recovery to offset the cost 

of some resource development activities that provide clear benefits to customers. 

The budget proposes to increase fees for offshore oil and gas inspections from 

$10.0 million in the 2010 enacted budget to $65.0 million in 2012. These fee collections incorporate a more robust inspection program and expand the scope of offshore 

inspection fees to include offshore drilling rigs, given the need for greater scrutiny 

of drilling operations as a core component of deepwater oil and gas development. 

This is consistent with the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil 

Spill and Offshore Drilling. The report states that the oil and gas industry should 

be ‘‘required to pay for its regulators’’ so that the costs of regulation ‘‘would no 

longer be funded by taxpayers but instead by the industry that is permitted to have 

access to a publicly owned resource.’’ 

Similarly, the budget proposes to collect $38.0 million for onshore oil and gas inspection activities conducted by BLM. The budget also proposes new fees totaling 

$4.4 million for coal and other minerals inspections conducted by BLM to recover 

the costs of inspecting these operations. 

Likewise, the budget proposes to decrease OSM grants to state programs that regulate the coal industry, to encourage those states to increase cost recovery fees for 

coal mine permit processing. 

Investments for the Future 

America’s Great Outdoors–Last year, the Administration initiated a national 

dialogue at the White House Conference on America’s Great Outdoors. In 50 listening sessions held across the Country, the public communicated their conservation 

and recreation priorities, and the result is a report to the President, America’s Great 

Outdoors: A Promise to Future Generations. The report outlines how the Federal 

Government can support a renewed and refreshed conservation vision by working 

in collaboration with communities, farmers and ranchers, businesses, conservationists, youth and others who are working to protect the places that matter to them 

and by engaging people across the country in conservation and recreation. 

The report calls for the government and its partners to help conserve and recreate 

on the lands and places that Americans care about most. To this end, the report 

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recommends expanding access to green spaces for recreation, restoring and connecting open spaces and rural landscapes to power economic revitalization and species conservation,, and increasing our investment of revenue from oil and gas development in the protection of open spaces. The report calls for the revision of government policies to improve program effectiveness and alignment, and leverage local, 

community driven efforts and asks the Federal government to be a better partner 

with States, Tribes, landowners, local communities, the private sector and others to 

meet shared conservation goals. 

The 2012 President’s budget identifies resources that are targeted on these outcomes with $5.5 billion for programs included in the America’s Great Outdoors initiative, an increase of $363.0 million over the FY 2010 level. The components of this 

budget request include land management operations, programs funded through the 

Land and Water Conservation Fund, and grant programs focused on partnerships 

that conserve natural resources, restore, rivers and trails, and preserve the Nation’s 

historic assets. 

The 2012 budget for America’s Great Outdoors includes $4.6 billion for core operations, an increase of $13.5 million, in the land and resource management bureaus—BLM, FWS, and NPS. Increases in Interior’s land management bureaus will 

enhance cultural and interpretative programs throughout our network of national 

parks, refuges and public lands. This funding will also support day–to-day operations, improve the condition of facilities, and address natural resource management 

needs. More than 285 million Americans and foreign tourists visited the Nation’s 

national parks in 2009, nearly 11 million more than in 2008, a 3.9 percent increase. 

This was the fifth busiest year for the national park system, just missing the alltime visitation record set in 1987. The increased visitation to the national parks reinforces the importance and value Americans place on their treasured landscapes. 

The initiative also includes $675.0 million for programs funded from the Land and 

Water Conservation Fund. The components of this request are: $375.0 million for 

Federal land acquisition, $200.0 million for an expanded LWCF State grants program including competitive grants, and $100.0 million for Cooperative Endangered 

Species Conservation Grants. 

The 2012 budget for Interior and the U.S. Forest Service includes full funding, 

$900 million, for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. This funding is drawn 

from revenue generated each year from oil and gas development. This fulfills the 

vision for the LWCF, with a dedicated source of funding generated from the depletion of resources to be used annually to advance resource conservation and recreational opportunities. For the 2012 budget, the Department coordinates Interior 

bureaus’ and the Forest Service’s land acquisition priorities and presents a joint 

conservation strategy that maximizes conservation outcomes in key geographic focal 

areas. 

The 2012 budget also includes $150.0 million for fish and wildlife conservation 

grants, an increase of $7.0 million, including $50.0 million for the North American 

Wetlands Conservation Fund, $95.0 million for State and Tribal Wildlife Grants, 

and $5.0 million for Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Grants. An additional 

$72.4 million is proposed for NPS partnership programs, including $62.4 million for 

historic preservation grants to States and Tribes, an increase of $6.5 million and 

$10.0 million for the Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance program, an increase of $1.1 million. 

The 2012 America’s Great Outdoors initiative focuses on investments that will 

lead to healthy lands, waters and resources while stimulating the economy—goals 

that are complementary. Through strategic partnerships, Interior will support and 

protect historic uses of lands, restore lands and resources, protect and interpret historic and cultural resources, and expand outdoor recreation opportunities. All of 

these activities have significant economic benefits in rural and urban communities. 

An economic impact analysis completed by the Department in December 2009 estimates that in 2008 more than 400 million visits to the Nation’s parks, refuges, and 

public lands generated nearly $25 billion and over 300,000 jobs in recreation and 

tourism, contributing significantly to the economic vitality of many communities. 

New Energy Frontier—The 2012 budget continues the Department’s New Energy Frontier initiative to create jobs, reduce the Nation’s dependence on fossil fuels 

and oil imports, and reduce carbon impacts. Facilitating renewable energy development is a major component of this strategy along with effective management of conventional energy programs. 

The Department has made significant advances in its priority goal to increase approved capacity for renewable energy production on Interior lands by at least 10,000 

megawatts by the end of 2012, while ensuring full environmental review. To date, 

BLM has approved projects that, when built, will generate approximately 4,000 

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megawatts of energy. The budget requests $72.9 million for renewable energy programs in 2012, an increase of $13.9 million above the 2010 enacted/2011 CR level. 

While we work to develop renewable energy sources, domestic oil and gas production remain critical to our nation’s energy supply and to reducing our dependence 

on foreign oil. As was underscored by the tragic explosion of the Deepwater Horizon 

and the oil spill that followed, we must take immediate steps to make production 

safer and more environmentally responsible. The recently-released report from the 

National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling 

concludes that neither industry nor the government were adequately prepared to respond to a blowout in deepwater. We have been aggressively pursuing reforms to 

raise the bar on safety standards for offshore drilling—including new standards for 

how well they are drilled and for the safety systems to prevent blowouts, as well 

as requiring operators to demonstrate that they are able to respond promptly and 

effectively to a loss of well control in deepwater. We are also making fundamental 

changes to improve the effectiveness of government safety oversight and environmental protection. 

The Commission’s recommendations are, in many ways, a strong validation of the 

reforms that we at the Department of the Interior have been undertaking to promote safety and science in offshore oil and gas operations. Moreover, the Commission’s findings and recommendations bolster the case for Interior’s comprehensive 

reforms and the reorganization of offshore oil and gas oversight that will remedy 

conflicted missions, stand up a stronger regulatory framework, create an internal 

review unit to investigate problems in a timely manner, improve agency and industry management of safety and environmental protection, and expand the team of inspectors, engineers and other safety personnel. Many reforms have already been accomplished including: • Implementation of strong new safety and environmental standards including: 

a safety rule that raises standards for everything from drilling equipment and 

well design to casing and cementing; a requirement that companies establish 

comprehensive risk management programs; a requirement that operators 

demonstrate capability to deal with a catastrophic blowout; limiting the use 

of categorical exclusions so that proposed lease sales and drilling projects go 

through rigorous environmental reviews under the National Environmental 

Policy Act (NEPA); and requiring companies to put their signature on the line 

to state that their rigs comply with safety and environmental laws and regulations. • Termination of the controversial royalty-in-kind program, which accepted oil 

and natural gas from producers in lieu of cash royalty payments, in favor of 

a more transparent and accountable royalty collection system. • Dissolution of the Minerals Management Service with the transfer of minerals revenue management to the Office of Natural Resources Revenue in the 

Office of the Secretary and creation of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement as an interim organization while further 

structural changes are made. 

• Formulation of a plan for reorganization of the former MMS that will separate the offshore resource management and the safety and environmental enforcement programs into two independent organizations—the Bureau of 

Ocean Energy Management and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. 

• Development and implementation of regulations and guidance to operators to 

heighten standards for drilling safety, including requiring operators to demonstrate the ability to respond to a deepwater blowout. 

• Continuing to pursue changes responsive to the recommendations of the Safety Oversight Board, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National 

Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon oil Spill. 

• Completion of a review of ethics issues related to the Department’s management of the OCS program and creation of the Investigations and Review Unit. 

• Implementation of a recruitment strategy for BOEMRE to expand the field 

of inspectors and engineers including recruitment tours of petroleum engineering programs at universities across the country. 

• Establishment of the Offshore Energy Safety Advisory Committee to advise 

BOEMRE on issues related to offshore energy safety, including drilling and 

workplace safety, well intervention and containment, and oil spill response. 

The 2012 budget includes $506.3 million for the components of the former Minerals Management Service to continue our efforts at reorganization and reform of 

both offshore energy development activities and mineral revenue collection. This includes a total program of $358.4 million for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, an increase of $119.3 million, or 50 percent, 

15 

over the 2010 enacted level, after adjusting for the transfer of mineral revenue collections to the new Office of Natural Resources Revenue. The budget proposes to offset BOEMRE program funding with $160.2 million in offsetting rental receipts and 

cost recoveries and $65.0 million from oil and gas inspection fees. 

The budget makes investments to increase capacity for leasing and environmental 

review, safety and environmental enforcement, and oil spill research. This request 

will enable Interior to hire over 100 inspectors, engineers, and other safety and enforcement staff by the end of 2012. The 2012 budget includes funding for the Investigations and Review Unit to respond to allegations or evidence of misconduct and 

unethical behavior; oversee and coordinate internal auditing, regulatory oversight 

and enforcement systems and programs; and ensure the organization’s ability to respond to emerging issues and crises, including spills and accidents. Funding is also 

included to support the use of sound science in all of the Department’s offshore energy activities. The 2012 budget request also includes $147.9 million for the Office of Natural Re- sources Revenue located in the Office of the Secretary. The proposed $38.7 million 

increase over the 2010 enacted level will allow us to strengthen auditing and compliance efforts for royalty revenue collections and to complete the transition of the 

royalty-in-kind (RIK) program to royalty-in-value collections. 

Youth in the Great Outdoors—Furthering the youth and conservation goals of 

the America’s Great Outdoors initiative, the 2012 budget proposes to continue engaging youth by employing and educating young people from all backgrounds. The 

2012 budget includes $46.8 million for youth programs, an increase of $7.6 million 

above the 2010 enacted/2011 CR level. 

Interior is uniquely qualified to engage and educate young people in the outdoors 

and has programs that establish connections for youth ages 18 to 25 with natural 

and cultural resource conservation. These programs help address unemployment in 

young adults and address health issues by encouraging exercise and outdoor activities. For example, Interior is taking part in the First Lady’s Let’s Move initiative 

to combat the problem of childhood obesity. The Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and Fish and Wildlife Service have Let’s Move Outside programs 

to promote physical activity for children and families on the Nation’s public lands. 

Interior has long-standing partnerships with organizations such as the 4–H, the Boy 

Scouts, the Girl Scouts, the Youth Conservation Corps, and the Student Conservation Association. These programs leverage Federal investments to put young people 

to work and build a conservation ethic. 

In 2010, Interior met its high priority performance goal to employ 15,900 in conservation-related careers through the Department or its partners. This is a 45 percent increase from 2009. The 2012 goal is to increase this youth employment by 60 

percent. 

Cooperative Landscape Conservation—The 2012 budget realigns programs 

and funding to better equip land and resource managers with the tools they need 

to effectively conserve resources in a rapidly changing environment. Significant 

changes in water availability, longer and more intense fire seasons, invasive species 

and disease outbreaks are creating challenges for resource managers and impacting 

the sustainability of resources on public lands. These changes result in bark beetle 

infestations, deteriorated range conditions, and water shortages that negatively impact grazing, forestry, farming, as well as the status of wildlife and the condition 

of their habitats. Many of these problems are caused by or exacerbated by climate 

change. 

The 2012 Budget includes $175.0 million for cooperative landscape conservation, 

an increase of $43.8 million. The budget funds the completion of the Climate Science 

Centers and Landscape Conservation Cooperatives, the organizing framework for 

the Department’s efforts to work collaboratively with others to understand and manage these changes. These efforts will allow the Department to meet its priority goal 

to identify resources vulnerable to climate change and implement coordinated adaptation response actions for 50 percent of the Nation by the end of 2012. 

The request for USGS climate variability science is $73 million, which includes 

$14.3 million for carbon sequestration research. USGS is conducting cutting edge 

research in biological and geological carbon sequestration, to investigate the potential of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for storage in vegetation, soils, 

sediments, oil and gas reservoirs and saline geologic formations. The 2012 budget 

will advance USGS research to assess rates and potential capacity for carbon 

storage in ecosystems, and evaluate the Nation’s potential resources for geological 

storage. 

Water Challenges—Interior is working to address the 21st Century pressures on 

the Nation’s water supplies. Population growth, aging water infrastructure, changing climate, rising energy demands, impaired water quality and environmental 

16 

needs are among the challenges. Water shortage and water use conflicts have become more commonplace in many areas of the United States, even in normal water 

years. As competition for water resources grows, the need for information and tools 

to aid water resource managers also grows. Water issues and challenges are increasing across the Nation, but particularly in the West and Southeast due to prolonged 

drought. Traditional water management approaches no longer meet today’s needs. 

Reclamation proposes to fund WaterSMART at $58.9 million, $11.0 million below 

2011 levels. The three ongoing WaterSMART programs include: the WaterSMART 

Grant program funded at $18.5 million; Basin Studies funded at $6.0 million; and 

the Title XVI Water Reclamation and Reuse program funded at $29.0 million. Two 

programs are being added to WaterSMART in 2012, the continuing Water Conservation Field Services program, funded at $5.1 million, and participation by Reclamation in the Cooperative Watershed Management program, funded at $250,000. This 

is a joint effort with the USGS. The USGS will use $10.9 million, an increase of 

$9.0 million, for a multi-year, nationwide water availability and use assessment program. Other significant programs and highlights include: 

In 2010, I issued a Secretarial Order establishing a new water sustainability 

strategy to coordinate Interior’s water sustainability efforts, create a clearinghouse 

for water conservation best practices, implement a water footprint reduction program to reduce consumption of potable water by 26 percent by 2020. We are in dialogue with Mexico on the management of the Colorado River and we are actively 

pursuing workable solutions to regional issues such as in the California Bay-Delta. 

The Bay-Delta is a source of drinking water for 25 million Californians and sustains about $400 billion in annual economic activity, including a $28 billion agricultural industry and up until recently supported a thriving commercial and recreational fishing industry. Our efforts in the Bay-Delta are focused on co-leading an 

inter-agency effort with the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to implement 

the December 2009 Interim Federal Action Plan for the California Bay-Delta Conservation Plan. In coordination with five other Federal agencies, we are leveraging 

our activities to address California water issues, promote water efficiency and conservation, expand voluntary water transfers in the Central Valley, fund drought relief projects, and make investments in water infrastructure. Over the past two 

years, we have invested over $500 million in water projects in California. We have 

also, in close coordination with NOAA and the state of California, worked on the 

California Bay-Delta Conservation Plan, a long-term plan aimed at restoring both 

reliable water supplies and a healthy Bay-Delta ecosystem. 

On February 18 we announced the initial 2011 Water Supply Allocation for Central Valley Project water users. We were pleased to report that some of the CVP 

contractors and waters users will receive a 100 percent allocation due to the precipitation and snowpack in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and improved carryover reservoir storage. Agricultural water service contractors South-of-Delta have an initial 

allocation of 50 percent but this is an improvement on the 46 percent initial allocation they’ve averaged over the past 20 years. These allocations represent good news 

given recent years, but many challenges remain. We will continue to work with our 

Federal, State and local partners to improve water supply reliability while addressing significant ecological issues. 

Our 2012 budget for the Bureau of Reclamation includes $53.1 million for the 

Central Valley Project Restoration Fund that is offset by collections estimated at 

$52.8 million. The 2012 budget for Reclamation includes $39.7 million for the California Bay-Delta Restoration account and $35.1 million for San Joaquin River restoration. An additional $6.9 million is included in the budget for the FWS and 

USGS activities in support of Bay-Delta ecosystem restoration. 

Strengthening Tribal Nations—The 2012 Budget for Indian programs is $2.5 

billion, a decrease of $118.9 million. The reduction includes completion of a one-time 

$50.0 million forward funding payment to tribal colleges, completion of $47 million 

in public safety projects normally funded by the Department of Justice, and $ 14.5 

million for completed water settlements. 

The BIA budget includes reductions that are tougher choices, including reductions 

of $27.0 million in Trust Real Estate Services, $14.2 million in central oversight programs, and $5.1 million in the Indian Guaranteed Loan Program. 

The 2012 budget provides $89.6 million in increases including: $42.3 million for 

programs that advance the Nation-to-Nation relationship; $20.0 million to enhance 

public safety and justice programs; $18.4 million to improve trust land management; 

and $8.9 million for education programs. The 2012 budget includes an increase of 

$29.5 million for contract support and the Indian Self-Determination Fund—this 

was the highest priority of the Indian Tribes. These funds will enable Tribes to fulfill administrative requirements associated with operating programs. 

17 

The 2012 budget supports achievement of a priority goal to reduce violent crime 

by at least five percent within 24 months on targeted tribal reservations through 

a comprehensive and coordinated strategy. The budget includes $354.7 million, an 

increase of $20.0 million, for law enforcement operations, detention center operations and maintenance, tribal courts, and conservation law enforcement officers. 

Indian Land and Water Settlements – The 2012 budget includes $84.3 million 

in the Bureau of Reclamation and Bureau of Indian Affairs to implement land and 

water settlements. 

The Bureau of Reclamation’s budget includes $51.5 million, an increase of $26.7 

million, for the initial implementation of four settlements authorized in the Claims 

Resolution Act of 2010. The legislation included water settlements for the Taos 

Pueblo of New Mexico and Pueblos of New Mexico named in the Aamodt case, the 

Crow Tribe of Montana, and the White Mountain Apache Tribe of Arizona. 

The Claims Resolution Act of 2010 establishes trust funds for Tribes to manage 

water systems and settlement funds to develop infrastructure. The primary responsibility for constructing these water systems was given to the Bureau of Reclamation, while the Bureau of Indian Affairs is responsible for the majority of the trust 

funds, which includes $207.2 million in mandatory funding in 2011. 

These settlements will deliver clean water to the Taos Pueblo and the Pueblos of 

Nambe, Pojoaque, San Ildefonso, and Tesuque in New Mexico, the Crow Tribe of 

Montana, and the White Mountain Apache Tribe of Arizona. In addition to funding 

for the initial implementation of these four settlements, Reclamation’s budget includes $24.8 million for the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply project. In the 2012 

budget, Reclamation is establishing an Indian Water Rights Settlements account to 

assure continuity in the construction of the authorized projects and to highlight and 

enhance transparency. 

The Bureau of Indian Affairs 2012 budget includes $32.9 million for ongoing Indian land and water settlements, a reduction of $12.9 million, reflecting completion 

of the Pueblo of Isleta, Puget Sound Regional Shellfish, and Soboba Band of Luiseno 

Indians settlements. 

Land Remote Sensing – For forty years, Landsat satellites have recorded the 

global landscape, creating an archive of both natural and man-made changes. This 

imagery generates $935 million in value for the U.S. economy by driving innovation 

in the agricultural, water management, and disaster response sectors. For example, 

foresters around the country use Landsat imagery to remotely map and monitor the 

status of woodlands in near real-time. This allows them to track the devastation 

caused by the pine bark beetle in the Rocky Mountains and monitor drought and 

fire-prone areas. 

Landsat fills an essential need for data that is refreshed on a time scale and with 

a level of resolution and granular detail that is otherwise not available. Commercial 

data is not available that fill a void that could be created in the absence of continuous Landsat coverage. 

The 2012 budget for the U.S. Geological Survey includes $48.0 million to begin 

planning activities with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for an 

operational Landsat program. Consistent with the Administration’s National Space 

Policy, the 2012 budget enables the USGS to assume management responsibility for 

a new operational Landsat program that will ensure continuity of Landsat data in 

the future. USGS will provide data requirements and funding, while NASA, drawing 

on its historic expertise, will build the Landsat satellites on a reimbursable basis 

for the USGS. This new operating structure is consistent with the approach used 

for NOAA’s JPSS weather satellites, and will ensure sufficient oversight while 

avoiding duplication. 

The 2012 budget will enable USGS to gather and prioritize Federal user community requirements for land image data, conduct trade studies on key design alternatives related to the development of the imaging device, initiate the procurement 

process through NASA for the Landsat 9 and 10 instruments and spacecrafts, and 

establish a science advisory team, in order to launch Landsat 9 in FY 2019 and 

Landsat 10 in FY 2024. 

Also included within a new separate account for National Land Imaging is an increase of $13.4 million to complete the retooling of the ground receiving stations to 

be able to receive data from the new instruments on Landsat 8, expected to be 

launched in December of 2012. 

Mandatory Proposals 

Interior continues to generate more revenue for the U.S. Treasury than its annual 

discretionary appropriation. In 2012, Interior will generate revenue of approximately $14.1 billion and propose mandatory legislation estimated to generate another $3 billion in revenue and savings over ten years. The budget assumes the enVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:08 Jun 17, 2011 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 L:\DOCS\64957.TXT Hresour1 PsN: KATHY
18 

actment of legislative proposals that we plan to submit to Congress in the coming 

weeks. These proposals will reform abandoned mine reclamation and hardrock mining on Federal lands, and collect a fair return to the American taxpayer for the development of Federal resources. 

Reform Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation–The Administration proposes to 

reform the Abandoned Mine Lands program to reduce unnecessary spending and ensure that the Nation’s highest priority abandoned coal and hardrock sites are reclaimed. First, the budget proposes to terminate the unrestricted payments to States 

and Tribes that have been certified for completing their coal reclamation work as 

these payments are no longer needed for reclamation of abandoned coal mine lands. 

Second, the budget proposes to reform the distribution process for the remaining 

reclamation funding to competitively allocate available resources to the highest priority coal abandoned mine lands sites. Through a competitive grant program, a new 

Abandoned Mine Lands Advisory Council will review and rank the abandoned mine 

lands sites, so that the Office of Surface Mining can distribute grants to reclaim the 

highest priority coal sites each year. 

Third, to address the legacy of abandoned hardrock mines across the U.S., Interior will create a parallel Abandoned Mine Lands program for abandoned hardrock 

sites. Like the coal program, hardrock reclamation would be financed by a new 

abandoned mine lands fee on the production of hardrock minerals on both public 

and private lands displaced after January 2012. The BLM would distribute the 

funds through a competitive grant program to reclaim the highest priority hardrock 

abandoned sites on Federal, State, tribal, and private lands. Altogether, this proposal will save $1.3 billion over the next ten years, focus available coal fees on the Nation’s most dangerous abandoned coal mines, and hold the 

hardrock mining industry responsible for cleaning up the hazards left by their predecessors. Reform Hardrock Mining on Federal Lands – The budget proposes to provide 

a fair return to the taxpayer from hardrock production on Federal lands. The proposal would institute a leasing program under the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 for 

certain hardrock minerals including gold, silver, lead, zinc, copper, uranium, and 

molybdenum, currently covered by the General Mining Law of 1872. 

After enactment, mining for these metals on Federal lands would be governed by 

the new leasing process and subject to annual rental payments and a royalty of not 

less than five percent of gross proceeds. Half of the receipts would be distributed 

to the States in which the leases are located and the remaining half would be deposited in the Treasury. Existing mining claims would be exempt from the change to 

a leasing system, but would be subject to increases in the annual maintenance fees 

under the General Mining Law of 1872. The Office of Natural Resources Revenue 

will collect, account for, and disburse the hardrock royalty receipts. This proposal 

would generate an estimated $100 million in revenue over ten years. 

Fee on Non-producing Oil and Gas Leases – The Administration will submit 

a legislative proposal to encourage energy production on lands and waters leased for 

development. A $4.00 per acre fee on non-producing Federal leases both onshore and 

offshore would provide a financial incentive for oil and gas companies to either get 

their leases into production or relinquish them so that the tracts can be leased to 

and developed by new parties. The proposed $4.00 per acre fee would apply to all 

new leases and would be indexed annually. In October 2008, the Government Accountability Office issued a report critical of past efforts by Interior to ensure that 

companies diligently develop their Federal leases. Although the report focused on 

administrative actions that the Department could undertake, this proposal requires 

legislative action. This proposal is similar to other non-producing fee proposals considered by the Congress in the last several years. The fee is projected to generate 

revenues to the U.S. Treasury of $25 million in 2012 and $874 million over ten 

years. 

Net Receipts Sharing for Energy Minerals – The Administration proposes to 

make permanent the current arrangement for sharing the cost to administer energy 

and minerals receipts, beginning in 2013. Under current law, States receiving significant payments from mineral revenue development on Federal lands also share 

in the costs of administering the Federal mineral leases from which the revenue is 

generated. In 2012, this net receipts sharing deduction from mineral revenue payments to States would be implemented as an offset to the Interior Appropriations 

Act, consistent with the provision included in 2010 and continued under the 2011 

CR. Permanent implementation of net receipts sharing is expected to result in savings of $44 million in 2013 and $441 million over ten years. 

Repeal Oil and Gas Fee Prohibition and Mandatory Permit Funds – The 

Administration proposes to repeal portions of Section 365 of the Energy Policy Act, 

beginning in 2013. Section 365 diverted mineral leasing receipts from the U.S. 

19 

Treasury to a BLM Permit Processing Improvement Fund and also prohibited BLM 

from establishing cost recovery fees for processing applications for oil and gas permits to drill. Congress has implemented permit fees through appropriations language for the last several years and the 2012 budget proposes to continue this practice. Starting in 2013, upon elimination of the fee prohibition, BLM will promulgate 

regulations to administratively establish fees for applications for permits to drill. In 

combination with normal discretionary appropriations, these cost recovery fees will 

then replace the permit fees set annually through appropriations language and the 

mandatory permit fund, which would also be repealed starting in 2013. Savings 

from terminating this mandatory funding are estimated at $20 million in 2013 and 

$57 million over three years. 

Geothermal Energy Receipts – The Administration proposes to repeal Section 

224(b) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Prior to passage of this legislation, geothermal revenues were split between the Federal government and States, with 50 

percent directed to States, and 50 percent to the Treasury. The Energy Policy Act 

of 2005 changed this distribution beginning in 2006 to direct 50 percent to States, 

25 percent to counties, and for a period of five years, 25 percent to a new BLM Geothermal Steam Act Implementation Fund. The allocations to the new BLM geothermal fund were discontinued a year early through a provision in the 2010 Interior Appropriations Act. The repeal of Section 224(b) will permanently discontinue 

payments to counties and restore the disposition of Federal geothermal leasing revenues to the historical formula of 50 percent to the States and 50 percent to the 

Treasury. This results in savings of $6.5 million in 2012 and $74 million over ten 

years. 

Deep Gas and Deepwater Incentives – The Administration proposes to repeal 

Section 344 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Section 344 mandated royalty incentives for certain ‘‘deep gas’’ production on the OCS. This change will help ensure 

that Americans receive fair value for federally owned mineral resources. Based on 

current oil and gas price projections, the budget does not assume savings from this 

change; however, the proposal could generate savings to the Treasury if future natural gas prices end up below current projections. 

Repeal of Authorities to Accept Royalty Payments In Kind – The Administration proposes to solidify a recent Departmental reform terminating the Royaltyin-Kind program by repealing all Interior authorities to accept future royalties 

through this program. This change will help increase confidence that future royalty 

payments will be properly accounted for. The budget does not assume savings from 

this change because the Administration does not anticipate restarting the program; 

however, if enacted, this proposal would provide additional certainty that a new 

Royalty-in-Kind program would not be initiated at some point in the future. 

Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act – The Administration proposes to 

reauthorize this Act, eliminating the 2011 sunset date and allowing lands identified 

as suitable for disposal in recent land use plans to be sold using the Act’s authority. 

The Act’s sales revenues would continue to be used to fund the acquisition of environmentally sensitive lands and the administrative costs associated with conducting 

sales. 

Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamps – Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamps, commonly known as Duck Stamps, 

were originally created in 1934 as the annual Federal license required for hunting 

migratory waterfowl. Today, 98 percent of the receipts generated from the sale of 

these $15.00 stamps are used to acquire important migratory bird areas for migration, breeding, and wintering. The price of the Duck Stamp has not increased since 

1991, while the cost of land and water has increased significantly. The Administration proposes to increase these fees to $25.00 per stamp per year, beginning in 2012. 

Increasing the price of Duck Stamps will bring the estimate for the Migratory Bird 

Conservation account to approximately $58 million. With these increased receipts, 

the Department anticipates additional acquisition of approximately 7,000 acres in 

fee and approximately 10,000 acres in conservation easement in 2012. Total acres 

acquired for 2012 would then be approximately 28,000 acres in fee title and 47,000 

acres in perpetual conservation easements. 

Compact of Free Association – On September 3, 2010, the U.S. and the Republic of Palau successfully concluded the review of the Compact of Free Association 

and signed a 15-year agreement that includes a package of assistance through 2024. 

Under the agreement, Palau committed to undertake economic, legislative, financial, 

and management reforms. The conclusion of the agreement reaffirms the close partnership between the U.S. and the Republic of Palau. Permanent and indefinite funding for the compact expired at the end of 2010. The 2012 budget seeks to authorize 

permanent funding for the Compact as it strengthens the foundations for economic 

development by developing public infrastructure, and improving health care and 

20 

education. Compact funding will also undertake one or more infrastructure projects 

designed to support Palau’s economic development efforts. The Republic of Palau 

has a strong track record of supporting the U.S. and its location is strategically 

linked to Guam and U.S. operations in Kwajalein Atoll. The cost for this proposal 

for 2012–2021 is $188.5 million. 

Extend Service First Authority – The budget includes legislative language to 

extend authority for the Service First program. The laws creating Service First give 

Interior and Agriculture the authority to establish pilot programs that leverage joint 

resources. Service First allows certain land management agencies to conduct activities jointly or on behalf of one another; collocate in Federal offices or leased facilities; make reciprocal delegations of respective authorities, duties, and responsibilities; and transfer funds and provide reimbursements on an annual basis, including 

transfers and reimbursements for multi-year projects. This authority is currently set 

to expire at the end of 2011. The extension included in the budget will make the 

Service First authority permanent to continue these arrangements that have saved 

costs and improved effectiveness. 

Conclusion 

Thank you for the opportunity to testify on the President’s 2012 budget request 

for the Department of the Interior. We have a tremendous opportunity to improve 

the future for our children and grandchildren with smart investments. This budget 

has fiscal discipline and restraint, but it includes forward looking investments. For 

America to be at its best and win the future, we need lands that are healthy, waters 

that are clean, and an expanded range of energy options to power our economy. I 

look forward to working with you to implement this budget. This concludes my written statement. I am happy to answer any questions that you may have. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary, and thank 

you for your testimony. We will now begin the questioning process 

and I will recognize myself for five minutes. Mr. Secretary, as we 

all know, gasoline prices are climbing and Americans could be paying an average of $4 per gallon very soon and maybe even higher. 

Back in 2008 when gas prices did reach $4 a gallon, the American 

people responded by asking Congress and the President to lift the 

OCS moratoria and open new areas to drilling and that happened 

at the end of 2008. Since President Obama has taken office, your 

Department and this Administration has systematically, in my 

view, reclosed these areas to possible energy production. Onshore 

lease sales have been canceled in the West, no progress has been 

made in advancing new production in Alaska. In the Gulf of Mexico, the de facto moratorium imposed by this Administration has 

further hindered our domestic energy production and increased our 

reliance on foreign oil. 

In fact, as part of the interim safety report issued by BLM last 

October, the Interior Department stated, and I quote out of this 

manual, your manual, ‘‘There is sufficient spare capacity in OPEC 

to offset a decrease in Gulf of Mexico deepwater production that 

could occur as a result of this rule. This rule came from Interior.’’ 

The Administration is not only admitting, but seems complacent to 

the fact that they are deepening Americans’ dependence on OPEC 

and foreign countries for our energy. The American people understand that we cannot, and should not, rely on OPEC for energy security. The responsibility to produce America’s energy resources, as 

you alluded to just a moment ago, rests squarely with the Department of the Interior. It has the authority over America’s vast 

energy resources, yet America energy production, both onshore and 

offshore, is declining. So, Mr. Secretary, I have to ask you very 

pointedly, what responsibility does the President, and you, as Secretary of the Interior, take for these rising gas prices? 

21 

Secretary SALAZAR. Chairman Hastings, we are very well aware 

of what is happening in the world relative to rising fuel prices and 

very well aware of our responsibility here in the United States and 

we are watching the situation very carefully. I would respectfully, 

Chairman Hastings, disagree with your characterization of what 

we have done in this Administration with respect to our energy 

portfolio. We are strongly supportive of a comprehensive energy 

portfolio that does include, yes, clean energy and renewable energy, 

but at the same time, oil and gas. I think if you will take a frank 

and honest look, and I would ask both Republicans and Democrats 

on this Committee to take an honest look at what we have done 

over the last two years, you would find the fact that we have done 

some things that I think are moving us in the right direction where 

there is agreement. Let me just point out, if I may, two or three 

facts. 

Since 2008, our oil and natural gas production has increased 

while imports of foreign oil have decreased. That may be surprising 

to you, but we have taken our imports from 60 percent in the 2004, 

2008 time period to 50 percent in 2010. That is a significant reduction in the importing of foreign oil. We have increased more than 

a third the number of barrels of oil that are being produced from 

the Outer Continental Shelf to 600 million barrels of oil. Oil production on the onshore, and I know many of you from the West are 

concerned about the onshore, has increased five percent during 

that same timeframe. We have expanded, Chairman Hastings, the 

amount of public land and Federal waters that are available for oil 

and gas production. Just in 2010, and I know there is criticism 

about what we have done in 2010, but the BLM held 29 oil and 

gas lease sales for public lands, and, as a result of that, we have 

41 million acres of public lands that are leased for oil and gas development. 

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Secretary, I only have a minute here and I 

do want to follow-up, and while those figures are there, and, frankly, I think they are basis for dispute, but nevertheless, I appreciate 

your answer, let me be more very, very specific then. What specific 

actions would the Administration take if gasoline gets to $4 or $5 

a gallon? What specific actions would the Administration take? 

Secretary SALAZAR. We are looking at a number of different 

things and there are no options that have been ruled out. In terms 

of enhancing production from our domestic resources, we have 

moved forward in the Gulf of Mexico, notwithstanding the fact that 

we had to deal with the Deepwater Horizon tragedy, and have permitted 37 wells in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Production in the Gulf of Mexico has remained robust throughout the 

last year, even after the Deepwater Horizon, and just on Monday 

of this week we permitted the first of the deepwater wells, which 

is a very deep well, and there are more of those to come. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much. Listen, I just want to say 

in conclusion that we believe, I certainly believe, more production 

is part of the answer to that, and to the extent that you are willing, 

the Administration is willing to do that, you will find an ally with 

us. I respectfully disagree, and we can discuss this in the future, 

that that has been the action. So my time has expired and I recognize the distinguished Ranking Member. 

22 

Mr. MARKEY. I thank you so much. The most immediate thing 

that can be done is to deploy the strategic petroleum reserve. We 

have more than 700 million barrels of oil in the strategic petroleum 

reserve. It has been used in the past, we know it is very effective, 

and I think when we do reach that crisis point, I think it should 

be a weapon which we use in order to make sure that this uprising 

in the Middle East does not have a catastrophic impact on our own 

economy. We have enough to protect us against those kind of impacts. Mr. Secretary, you are requesting a budget of $12.2 billion 

for the coming fiscal year, but you are proposing to return $14.1 

billion in revenue to the United States Treasury during that same 

time, and you have requested legislative changes that if enacted 

would generate an additional $2.5 billion for American taxpayers, 

so if the Congress simply did what you have proposed in your 

budget, your agency would actually generate nearly $4.5 billion in 

a surplus next year that could be used to reduce the deficit. 

Now, one of your proposed reforms is the establishment of a fee 

on nonproducing oil and gas leases in order to encourage energy 

companies to produce more oil and gas and increase the revenue 

reflected by the Federal government. Today, Representative Holt 

and I will be introducing legislation to establish just such an escalating fee on the tens of millions of acres of public land that oil 

companies have under lease but on which they are not producing. 

Would you support congressional action to establish a fee on nonproducing oil and gas leases? 

Secretary SALAZAR. The answer to that is yes, Congressman Markey, and it is part of the President’s budget. Onshore acreage, we 

have 41.2 million acres of land that we have leased for oil and gas 

production, but we only have 12.2 million that is currently producing. Offshore acreage, 38 million acres that we have subjected 

to leases which are leased, only 6.3 million acres of those are producing. So we would be happy to work with you on the specifics of 

the legislation knowing that when we talk about diligence it is 

going to be important that it just not be a direct requirement, but 

that we recognize that there are companies that are out there diligently attempting to develop their leases and that has to be recognized. 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you. Earlier this week The New York Times 

reported that wastewater from hydraulically fractured wells in 

Pennsylvania and West Virginia have been sent to sewage plants 

that are not able to remove the radioactive radium from it even 

though these levels could be as high as 2,000 times the EPA’s 

drinking water standards. The radioactive water was then released 

into waterways at times within a mile of drinking water intake locations. Are you examining the manner in which drilling wastes 

are being managed on Federal lands and ensuring that similar 

problems do not exist there? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Yes, and Deputy Secretary David Hayes 

pulled together a forum on hydraulic fracturing, so if I could have 

him answer that just for a minute. Thank you, Committee Member 

Markey. 

Mr. MARKEY. Yes. 

Mr. HAYES. Congressman Markey, we are working with EPA. 

EPA, of course, has the primary jurisdiction over water quality. 

23 

They have a study that they have under way. We are talking with 

the industry about the Federal lands. As you know, the Federal estate in terms of gas shale is a small percentage of the overall resource, perhaps 15 percent, but we are looking to make sure that 

the operators on public lands are not using hydraulic fracturing in 

a way that is harmful to the environment. 

Mr. MARKEY. I think that is very important. I think the public 

really wants this to be resolved in a way in which the water which 

people are drinking is not contaminated by those processes. By the 

way, I want to congratulate you on the announcement that you 

made here about the 10,000 megawatts of new permitting for renewable energy resources on public lands. I think that is a huge 

step forward, building upon what you have already done in the 

past. In the last Administration there were no solar permits granted on public lands and only four permits for wind energy on public 

lands. I just think we have to open this thing up very broadly. It 

is a vast expanse, as you were saying, 20 percent of the land mass 

of our country, and just tremendous potential, especially off of our 

coastlines as well. The GAO issued a report earlier this week which 

concluded that the American people may not be getting a fair return on Federal oil and gas resources, oil companies are drilling for 

free on public land in the Gulf of Mexico. What reforms are you 

putting in place to ensure that American taxpayers receive the billions of dollars which they are owed by the oil industry? 

The CHAIRMAN. Fifteen seconds, Mr. Secretary. We are over time 

here. 

Secretary SALAZAR. Representative Markey, we are working very 

hard in implementing the recommendations from the GAO. Many 

of those have already been implemented and we actually have a 

study underway in BLM to understand how it is that we might be 

able to better improve to make sure that the American taxpayer 

gets a fair return on the property that is being leased to oil and 

gas companies. 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you for your service, Mr. Secretary. 

The CHAIRMAN. The time of the gentleman has expired. The gentleman from Tennessee, Mr. Duncan, is recognized for five minutes. 

Mr. DUNCAN OF TENNESSEE. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I first want to say that I second everything that you have 

said in your opening statement, especially about land purchases. 

The Federal government now owns or controls 30 percent of the 

land in this country and state and local governments and quasi 

governmental agencies own another or control another 20 percent, 

so you have already got half the land in some type of public ownership, and USA Today reported about three or four years ago on its 

front page one day that land trusts and conservancies, and there 

are over 2,000 of them, are purchasing land equivalent to half the 

size of the State of New Jersey every year. We are very rapidly 

doing away with private property in this country, making it much 

more expensive and harder for young families to buy homes. 

I am concerned also about the San Joaquin Valley even though 

I live in Tennessee because I have read that unemployment 

reached 40 percent there and it was helping drive up food prices 

all across the country. Then another USA Today story last week 

said that gas prices were going to go to $5 a gallon or higher. We 

24 

have seen some evidence of sort of a recovery, but if we let gas 

prices go to $5 or $6 a gallon, it is going to really stop this recovery 

and maybe even throw us back into another recession and it is 

going to hurt a lot of poor and lower income and working people. 

It has been said many times we can’t drill our way out of the problem, but I can tell you that if we would just start producing a little 

bit more, these other countries wouldn’t be able to keep raising 

their prices as fast as they do. 

I have sat on this Committee for many years and I keep hearing 

about Teddy Roosevelt. Well, I can tell you, Teddy Roosevelt, the 

government at all levels didn’t own nearly as much as high a percentage of the property as they do now and we didn’t have nearly 

as many people, and so it is a little bit ridiculous to keep talking 

about Teddy Roosevelt because I think he would be shocked at how 

much government land is owned today. Mr. Secretary, I want to 

ask you this. You heard the Chairman say that your budget would 

result in a $60 billion tax increase on the gas and oil industry. Assuming, or guessing, that you might disagree with that, what figure would you put on that as increased costs for the gas and oil 

industry? Because some of us are concerned that those will have 

to passed on to the consumer. 

Secretary SALAZAR. Congressman Duncan, that number is not 

one that I am aware of. Indeed, when you look at the entire budget 

of the Department of the Interior, that vastly exceeds a number of 

the budget. We are proposing in the President’s budget is that industry pay its weight in terms of inspection and regulation, both 

offshore as well as onshore, and that is reflected in the requests 

that we have made with respect to the Bureau of Ocean Energy 

Management and Enforcement. If I may, wanted just to address 

two of the points you raised, one on conservation. I would like for 

all the members of the Committee to recognize that what we are 

attempting to do here is to move forward with a conservation agenda that is appropriate for the 21st Century. 

We are not living in the days of Teddy Roosevelt, and we all recognize that, but if you look at one example where we have worked 

with Kansas and the government of Kansas, but also the Kansas 

Livestock Association, the Kansas Farm Bureau and so many others to preserve the 1.1 million acres of the last remaining tall grass 

prairie ecosystem through a national conservation effort which we 

announced about two months ago, that is an effort which will preserve the working landscapes and the ranches of the Flint Hills 

area for generations to come. Fourth, and fifth and sixth generation 

ranchers will be able to stay on those ranches. So we are not buying those places for government ownership. Those are conservation 

areas where through easements and management programs we will 

be able to manage that 1.1 million acres and then you and those 

for conservation. That is what you will see embedded in the way 

that we want to move forward. I could give you lots of other examples. 

Mr. DUNCAN OF TENNESSEE. Well, I am about to run out of time 

but I will say we are causing a problem for state and local governments that when we take so much land off of the tax rolls at the 

same time the schools and the police are coming to us wanting 

more money, and I am concerned, also, as the Chairman said, 

25 

about the fact that we have, that your Department keeps telling us 

they have such a huge, multibillion dollar maintenance backlog, 

and I think most of us on this side feel you should do more to take 

care of the property you have instead of buying additional properties. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Time of the gentleman has expired. Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Kildee. 

Mr. KILDEE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Secretary, your proposal includes focusing on seven initiatives for Fiscal Year 2012. 

One of those areas is strengthening tribal nations. This is a followup on President Obama’s commitment to Native Americans and 

Alaska Natives. Can you speak a little more about the importance 

of this initiative? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Congressman Kildee, we take the trust responsibility that we have for the United States in connection with 

the 564 tribes in the United States very seriously. Fulfilling that 

trust responsibility means paying attention to the issues that are 

being faced in reservations around the country, including addressing rampant violence and law and order issues on those reservations. So we have a robust program moving forward to deal with 

public safety on the reservations, we have a robust program moving forward to create educational opportunity for Native American 

children who live on those reservations through the more than 130 

schools that we oversee, we are working with tribes to help them 

develop their economic ability, including the development of their 

natural resources in oil and gas and renewable energy resources on 

tribal reservations, so many of those things that are priorities to 

the President, to tribal nations and to the Department of the Interior are included in this budget. 

Mr. KILDEE. I stood behind the President when he signed a bill 

to help reduce the violence on the Indian lands and saw his own 

sensitivity to the woman who spoke of how she had been treated 

violently. It was very touching because it came from his head, but 

from his heart, too. He really was concerned about that violence. 

I am glad that you and the President are working on that and that 

Congress passed some good legislation on that. Are you working on 

something to respond to the Carcieri decision of the U.S. Supreme 

Court? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Congressman Kildee, we are indeed, and 

David Hayes who has had the lead both on Cobell as well as 

Carcieri, I am going to have him quickly respond to that question. 

Mr. HAYES. Congressman, we continue to urge the Congress to 

pass a clean Carcieri fix to ensure that all tribes have the right to 

have land in trust. The President’s budget explicitly requests that 

the Congress act in that regard. 

Mr. KILDEE. I am glad to hear that. The House passed legislation 

last year, but that did not clear the Senate. Was that language basically in the right direction, the language that we used last year? 

Mr. HAYES. Yes, Congressman, and thank you for your leadership in that regard. 

Mr. KILDEE. Thank you very much. I am encouraged by the fact 

that the Chairman has done a good job in trying to bring that to 

our attention again this year. We appreciate your cooperation over 

there. You have a special obligation to the Native Americans. When 

26 

I talk to Native Americans, especially young ones, I tell them that 

I, for example, and you, too, Mr. Chairman, we have two types of 

citizenship. I am a citizen of the sovereign State of Michigan and 

I am a citizen of the United States. Those Native Americans I 

speak to I say you have a third citizenship based upon your sovereignty. You are a citizen of the Navajo Tribe, the Sault Ste Marie 

Tribe, and that is a very important citizenship. We have to be careful. I know you, under your leadership, Mr. Secretary, have done 

a very good job to make sure we don’t slice away at that sovereignty. We will probably never come with a meat axe and try to 

do anything, but we have to be careful not to slice away a bit at 

their sovereignty. You have been very sensitive on that and I personally appreciate it. I yield back the balance of my time, Mr. 

Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. I thank the gentleman very much for yielding 

back. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Utah, Mr. Bishop. 

Mr. BISHOP. Secretary, thank you for coming here. This is an infrequent opportunity that we get to speak to you and I appreciate 

your willingness to do that. I have three quick questions for you. 

I will try and go through the first two as quickly as possible to give 

you maximum amount of time for the third one, if that is it. First 

question is, is there a line item in your proposed budget for the 

Wildlands Initiative? Just Yes or No. We couldn’t find one. 

Secretary SALAZAR. No. 

Mr. BISHOP. OK. That is smart thinking. Second one, on the 

RMP process, resource management plans, that were done in the 

State of Utah obviously averaged between six to eight years in 

doing so. They did the coordination mandated in FLPMA, which 

was not done for the wildland policy, in which talked to locally 

elected officials, as well as having public hearings. They spent two 

years specifically on wilderness studies for those public lands and 

the decision was 2.8 million acres in Utah that had some characteristics, 2.4 million did not have enough characteristics, but 400,000 

did, to be managed for their wilderness characteristics. Your 

wildlands proposal overturns that, so unless you want to interpret 

that the professionals on the ground were wrong, which I would 

highly doubt, or that the process, which was correct, and the analysis was done by experts, what specifically about those RMP proposals is wrong in their answer? Their answer was 400,000. What 

was wrong in that answer? I want a specific, and very brief one, 

if you could. 

Secretary SALAZAR. If I may, Congressman Bishop, because I 

know you have a major concern on the wildlands policy and I think 

it is good, because of Utah being a great example to talk about this, 

I am going to have David Hayes who spent time in Vernal, Utah, 

and a number of different times, as have I, talk about how it applies to Utah. 

Mr. BISHOP. Got to be specific for me. Mr. Hayes, specifically. 

Mr. HAYES. The issue, Congressman, is that the 2.4 million acres 

that have wilderness characteristics in Utah, the RMP process provided no guidance whatsoever to BLM, to industry or any party as 

to—— 

Mr. BISHOP. Mr. Hayes, let me go to the question. 

Mr. HAYES. Yes. 

27 

Mr. BISHOP. I am not talking about process. The process was 

done. 

Mr. HAYES. Yes. 

Mr. BISHOP. What specifically about the answer was wrong? 

What was wrong with their answer? 

Mr. HAYES. There is no clarity in the RMPs about how to manage the 2.4 million acres that have wilderness characteristics. We 

are proposing to simply go back to that process and ask and answer that question through the RMP amendment process. 

Mr. BISHOP. So what was wrong with their decision by the professionals on the field in what you called a rush to judgment? 

Mr. HAYES. The inventory was excellent. 

Mr. BISHOP. OK. 

Mr. HAYES. It identified 2.4 million acres of wilderness characteristics and it provided no guidance to industry, to BLM folks or anyone as to how those lands could be—— 

Mr. BISHOP. So the answers of 2.4 without enough characteristics, that was accurate? 

Mr. HAYES. We think the inventory was good, was well done. 

Mr. BISHOP. The 2.4 was the accurate answer? 

Mr. HAYES. The problem is that there was no guidance in the 

RMP for how those lands should be managed. 

Mr. BISHOP. We are still only looking at 400,000 that potentially 

be guided as wilderness, managed as wilderness. You are not 

changing that. 

Mr. HAYES. No. 

Mr. BISHOP. All right. Fine. Then there is no need for going 

through the process. Let me then go to the real one, Mr. Secretary. 

Mr. HAYES. No. No. 

Mr. BISHOP. Thank you. You answered it. Let me try the real 

one, Mr. Secretary. You have received a great deal of congratulations for the management style of the Department of the Interior, 

often by people who aren’t really impacted by it. I mean, the Ranking Member is a great person, but to be honest, he has to go on 

a road trip to find BLM land close to his home town. We have others that really still think of the West as their personal playground 

or as a nice backdrop for John Wayne movies. Mr. Grijalva once 

jokingly said that he wished his state had as much public land as 

my state. I agreed with him, but for different reasons. So it is true 

of all the public land that is owned and managed by the Department of the Interior, 93 percent is found west of Denver, correct? 

Secretary SALAZAR. I am not sure of the number, but in general. 

Mr. BISHOP. I am close. Four percent is found east of Denver. So 

the question I have to have, sir, especially after the wildlands proposal which has no statutory requirement to do it, nor, as we found 

out two days ago in our hearing, has a statutory authority to do 

so, then here is the question. These are the letters from the locally 

affected, locally elected officials in our state. Why is the overwhelming majority of locally elected officials, why is the overwhelming majority of elected Governors in the western states, 

which has 93 percent, and I am having to tell you the elected officials who are in Congress are not that crazy, too, why are they opposed to what you are trying to do? Why are the people directly impacted by these decisions are the ones who are complaining time 

28 

and time again about your decisions? That is why I wanted to give 

you enough time to do that one. 

Secretary SALAZAR. Well, with 19 seconds left let me just say, 

Congressman Bishop, that I think there is a misunderstanding on 

your part and the part of many others with respect to the 

wildlands policy, and so we will communicate with the citizens of 

Utah, as well as with others, about the specific consequence of the 

BLM wildlands policy. 

Mr. BISHOP. Mr. Secretary, that is a perfect thing to say and I 

appreciate you doing it. I just wish you had done it before you 

made the announcement. 

Secretary SALAZAR. Let me finish. First, it is very important for 

you to recognize that this is a requirement of the law. In fact, the 

Circuit Court of Appeals have recognized that this is a mandamus 

responsibility that we have in the Department of the Interior. Second of all, there is no acre that has been made or designated as 

wildlands, and we recognize that wilderness designation is ultimately an authority of the Congress. Third, that as we move forward with the RMP process and moving forward with how we manage public lands—— 

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Secretary? 

Secretary SALAZAR.—we will seek the local input of people to provide us guidance on how we move forward. 

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Secretary and my friend from Utah, we are 

going to have more hearings on this. As was alluded to when we 

had the hearing earlier, we will pursue this. Thank you very much. 

Next I would recognize my colleague from Oregon, Mr. DeFazio. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for being 

here, Mr. Secretary. I guess I would strike a little different tone 

and say that, you know, in my state, particularly with the problem 

that has been prevalent for more than 20 years through both, starting with the first Bush Administration, the Clinton Administration, 

the Bush Administration, and then extending into your tenure, we 

have been deadlocked on the management of some unique forest 

lands, the O&C lands in Oregon. I want to thank you for the individual attention that you have put into trying to help break that 

deadlock and I want to encourage you and your Department, and 

Mr. Hayes and others who are knowledgeable and working on this, 

to continue to move forward thoughtfully on these pilot projects 

where we can look at getting into our forests again, making them 

more healthy and removing a viable commercial product where appropriate. 

I just really want to thank you for that. I know it is tough budgetary times but if we break this gridlock there will be revenue for 

the government, revenue for my counties, there will be jobs, we will 

have healthier forests. I think these pilot projects for the first time 

in four administrations hold some promise of giving us a path forward. So I just, I wanted to set a little different tone because there 

are others who, you know, get different concerns that they want to 

raise with you. So thank you, and I, you know, really need to respond to that. You are doing a great job. I would like to go back 

to something the Chairman raised about Land and Water Conservation Funds. Now, my understanding is that there are no general fund dollars in the Land and Water Conservation Fund, is that 

29 

correct? These are dedicated revenue sources that are channeled 

into LWCF. 

Secretary SALAZAR. That is correct. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Yes. And right now under law those are required 

to be spent in a very limited way in terms of the acquisition of land 

to mitigate for other impacts elsewhere, depletion of resources elsewhere, or things that are desirable in terms of, you know, communities and Federal priorities, is that correct? 

Secretary SALAZAR. It is correct. The Land and Water Conservation Fund statute when it was written back in the 1960s provided 

guidance to where that money should go, but it ultimately, when 

you look at the United States of America, there have been land and 

water conservation projects in every single state of America. What 

I would say about that as well is that I think it is a kind of 

incentivization that has brought about much of the conservation 

legacy that we have today here in this country. I think, as you well 

know, Congressman DeFazio, it is a broken promise. Stewart Udall 

and Robert Kennedy, Henry Dime and others who worked on that 

back in the 1960s really felt that it would be fully funded, and yet 

50 years and it has never been fully funded because although the 

money is credited in the Treasury to go into Land and Water Conservation Fund, only about half of the money has ever gone into 

Land and Water Conservation Fund. The rest has never reached 

the goal. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Right. It is used as a phony deficit offset since the 

money can’t legally be spent on general fund government activities, 

but we make, we on the books say, well, gee, there is $450 million 

less deficit because we didn’t spend those on what is legally authorized. I am not familiar with, and I don’t know if the Department 

keeps, but I know in my state we have a backlog of projects with 

willing sellers and community support, often county commissioners, 

city councils and others, hoping for land, water conservation acquisitions. Is there any sort of national list that you maintain? Because I imagine that most Members here aren’t aware that they 

have communities or projects in their districts or their states where 

there is tremendous support where we just haven’t made the 

money available because we are using it as a phony offset to make 

the deficit look smaller. 

Secretary SALAZAR. The answer to that is that these projects 

exist in every one of the states of the country and they are local 

and state projects, as well as some projects from our agencies. The 

National Park Service alone has about $2 billion in terms of acquisitions, and some of them are expensive. Grand Teton. There are 

in holdings in the Grand Teton where we worked with the State 

of Wyoming to try to figure out how we could buy out some of those 

in holdings to preserve the Grand Tetons for the future, but the 

needs are huge. They are in the multi billions of dollars. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. So we could productively, with community and 

state support and tremendous consensus, spend these funds for 

their lawfully authorized purpose if we stopped using them as a 

phony budget offset, and that is what you are proposing this year. 

Secretary SALAZAR. Indeed, and I would offer this, too. If you 

want to put it into a historical context, in 1999 the House of Representatives actually passed what would have been a $3.2 billion 

30 

package that essentially would have funded most of the components of Land and Water Conservation Fund, and so coming in and 

looking at a $900 million request, which is the current authorized 

level, I think, in my view, is a humble and modest request given 

the need that is out there. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Thank you, 

Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Time of the gentleman has expired. The Chair 

recognizes the gentleman from Colorado, Mr. Lamborn. 

Mr. LAMBORN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for 

being here today, Mr. Salazar. Mr. Secretary, as you know, a number of environmental groups in Colorado and elsewhere have pressured you to cancel oil and gas leases that were signed and issued 

to the successful high bidders following BLM public auctions. You 

were asked about this issue during an interview you gave with the 

editorial board of the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel in August of 

2009. You were quoted as saying that you would not withdraw, 

could not withdraw the Roan Plateau leases in Colorado because 

once these leases were signed, they provided the buyers with a 

property right that you and your agency were bound to protect. 

Since I have a short period of time, I would appreciate it if you 

could answer the following few questions with a yes or no. Do you 

still stand by this statement that you have made to the Grand 

Junction Daily Sentinel in 2009? 

Secretary SALAZAR. That statement was accurate then. It would 

be accurate today if those leases were, in fact, issued and signed. 

Mr. LAMBORN. OK. 

Secretary SALAZAR. There is litigation on the Roan Plateau, Congressman Lamborn, and efforts to try to create a program forward 

that will allow the development of oil and gas on the Roan Plateau, 

but to do it with the best practices available from the oil and gas 

industry. Those have been part of the negotiations that have been 

underway. 

Mr. LAMBORN. OK. And then, as Secretary of the Interior, do you 

and your agency, and I am assuming the answer is yes, but just 

to verify that you intend to protect the private property rights of 

companies that are holding Federal oil and gas leases that have 

been signed and issued. 

Secretary SALAZAR. The answer is we will protect private property rights and follow the law in terms of what the law requires 

us to do. 

Mr. LAMBORN. OK. And are you aware that the Mineral Leasing 

Act requires the BLM to issue oil and gas leases within 60 days 

following payment by the successful high bidder of the remainder 

of the bonus bid, if any is owed, and the first year’s annual rental? 

Secretary SALAZAR. I believe that there is language in the statutes that make those requirements, but I will also tell you, Congressman Lamborn, that most of the leases that have been issued 

frankly have been protested and gone into litigation, which essentially is what has caused, if you will, the backlog of much of the 

activity, and much of it happened because of the rush to judgment 

to lease everything, everywhere without approaching it in the way 

that we are approaching it, which is to be smart from the start. 

Once you are into litigation, you can point the specific statute out 

31 

to me as many times as you can but you are not going to get a 

lease essentially that is going to get into production—— 

Mr. LAMBORN. I understand the Courts may interfere, as you 

point out, and tell you to do something. Yes. I am talking about activity by your Department separate from whatever a Court might 

say pursuant to litigation. So here is what I am concluding with. 

A local forest supervisor in Wyoming recently signed a record of decision in which she decided that the government should cancel oil 

and gas leases that have already been issued. Now, since BLM 

leases out Federal oil and gas resources underlying national forests, how and when do you intend to notify the Forest Service that 

the Department of the Interior cannot, and will not, cancel Federal 

oil and gas leases that have been issued for Forest Service parcels? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Congressman Lamborn, we will follow the 

law, but I think the results speak for themselves. I think in 2010, 

the fact that we issued 5,200 leases in 2010, that we project that 

in 2011 we will issue 7,200 leases in the onshore, the fact that we 

have 41 million acres have already been leased out to oil and gas 

development, I think those statistics speak for themselves. 

Mr. LAMBORN. Those are good statistics but in this instance we 

see a possibility that according to what one local forest supervisor 

in Wyoming would like to do, the result would be the cancellation 

of existing leases that have been issued. You told the Grand Junction Sentinel in another case, in the Roan Plateau case, that would 

be a violation of private property rights. Wouldn’t that also apply 

here? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Congressman Lamborn, I would be happy to 

take a look at the specific case that you are referencing here and 

get back to you on the specifics. I don’t have the information in 

front of me with respect to the specific case you speak about. 

Mr. LAMBORN. Do you agree that that would be a violation of, 

apart from whatever a Court might say, that is a violation of private property rights? 

Secretary SALAZAR. I don’t know. I will look into the case that 

you raise if you get that information to my staff and we will get 

back to you with the specifics of the particular case. I am not going 

to speculate based on this conversation and your questions here. 

Mr. LAMBORN. OK. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Time of the gentleman has expired. I would ask, 

too, Mr. Secretary, because I know this will come up, other Members will have questions, and if you could respond in a very timely 

manner to those questions, that would be very, very helpful to us. 

I know that request has been made of you in the past. Chair recognizes the gentleman from American Samoa, Mr. Faleomavaega. 

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to offer 

my personal congratulations for your attainment of the Chairmanship, Mr. Chairman, and also our Ranking Member of the Committee. Welcome to the Committee, Mr. Secretary. As the President’s point man to care for our country’s natural resources, I do 

want to commend you for your leadership and services to our nation. Mr. Secretary, on the eve of the current crisis in the Middle 

East, especially with oil producing countries like Libya, and I believe the Chairman has touched on this issue, the fear among the 

American consumers is that the price of gas may be going up as 

32 

high as $5 a gallon by this summer. Is the Administration currently making contingency plans in anticipation of something as 

critical as this in terms of lessening the price of gas in the coming 

months? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Congressman, everything is on the table and 

everything is being looked at in terms of potential actions. The 

President has made it clear and many Members of Congress have 

made it clear that obviously working on the economy and standing 

this economy up is of highest priority for the American people, and 

obviously the price of fuel is one of those factors, and so every option will be looked at. 

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Secretary, you perhaps more than anyone in the Administration has had a more in-depth understanding 

of the oil spill caused by the British Petroleum Company. Can I ask 

what was the total damage as a result of this oil spill? Because it 

has been months now. I don’t know what the bottom line is in the 

cause of the oil spill. What is the total damage that was caused by 

the oil spill by British Petroleum, may I ask? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Congressman, those issues are still being 

evaluated. There is a natural resource damage assessment program 

which is underway which involves the five states of the Gulf Coast 

and the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Commerce and the Department of Justice, there are other issues that 

we are looking at, but it will be some time before there is a more 

exact calculation of the total amount of damage that was caused 

from the BP oil spill. 

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. All right. How is it that a foreign company, 

like British Petroleum, and I don’t know if the media reports have 

been accurate of this, British Petroleum was found in violation of 

so many of the regulatory regulations, and yet ironically most of all 

our major American oil companies were in compliance with the oil 

spill, you know, standards, how is it that a foreign company, like 

British Petroleum, got away with all this? 

Secretary SALAZAR. My own view of that, Congressman, is that 

there was a complacency that included the U.S. Congress, Republican and Democratic Presidents and Secretaries of the Interior for 

a long time. The consequence of that was a lack of keeping up with 

the technology that was going into the deeper and deeper waters 

in the Gulf, and the consequence of that today, and the responsibility and duty, which I believe we all share both as an Administration and as a Congress, is to make sure that if our policy of the 

United States is to promote oil and gas development in the Outer 

Continental Shelf, which is a policy of this President and I am implementing that in the Department of the Interior, that we do it 

in a safe way that protects the environment and protects the people. That is why the budget that is in front of you that would fund 

the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and Regulation is such 

an important component of our energy future for the country. 

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. In your opinion, has British Petroleum properly compensated the many small businesses, the people that were 

affected negatively by the oil spill? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Congressman, that process is underway. 

There is a claims process which is being executed and it is still far 

from being complete. 

33 

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. I do want to commend my good friend from 

Michigan, as well as members of our Native American Congressional Caucus, for your successful negotiations not only of the 

Cobell issue, as well as the Carcieri. We are going to continue following this. I think my time is about up, Mr. Chairman. Thank 

you, Mr. Secretary. 

Secretary SALAZAR. Thank you, Congressman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank the gentleman. Had some time to yield 

back and I appreciate that. The gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Wittman, is recognized for five minutes. 

Mr. WITTMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Salazar, Secretary Salazar, for joining us today. We appreciate this opportunity. Want to begin by letting you know my concerns about 

the Fiscal Year 2012 budget as it relates to domestic energy production. I think we need to do more there. I appreciate the efforts 

that are being put forth to promote wind energy in the mid-Atlantic, I think that is a critical part of this, but I also want to offer 

that I hope that you re-examine the cancellation of leases off of Virginia for oil and gas. I think those are critical and I know Virginia 

stands ready, willing and able to assist in making sure that we do 

all we can to get that energy production going off of our coast. 

Want to talk a little bit about the Chesapeake Bay Executive 

Order. As you know, the President signed that last year and that 

is an effort to restore habitat within the Chesapeake Bay. 

I wanted to ask you a couple of questions there. One is where 

is the Department of the Interior currently in implementing that 

particular Executive Order? Can you talk about the critical programs in your Fiscal Year 2012 budget recommendation that that 

would enhance the implementation of the President’s Executive 

Order. I want to piggyback a little bit on that talking about the 

North American Wetlands Conservation Act funding. As you know, 

that is also a critical element of preserving habitat for migratory 

bird populations, and that does have a specific economic impact. 

Those wildlife-related recreation in those areas generates about 

$120 billion a year and about 4,000 jobs, many of those in rural 

areas. 

In my district and throughout the State of Virginia, those are 

critical elements of what we are dealing with. As an avid water 

fowl hunter and a member of the Migratory Bird Conservation 

Commission, we all know how important those dollars are. I wanted to get you to comment about why these North American Wetlands Conservation Act funding dollars are important, and how is 

the funding there at that level leveraged with private dollars in 

order to set some of these lands aside and preserve these critical 

habitats both through purchase, but also more predominantly these 

days with conservation easement purchases. 

Secretary SALAZAR. Congressman, wait a minute. Let me first 

thank you for your service on the commission along with Senator 

Thad Cochran, and now Senator prior, and others who serve on 

that commission from the states, as well as the Department of the 

Interior. Let me say first on the Chesapeake Bay, there is a significant amount of money, I think $33.6 million, that is proposed in 

the President’s budget for the Chesapeake. We do view as an Administration the Chesapeake Bay as being one of those landscapes 

34 

of national significance for the country. We know there is a lot of 

work that needs to be done there. The National Park Service and 

the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are working closely with Virginia, with local communities, to try to identify how we can be 

helpful in terms of the restoration of the Chesapeake. It will remain a high priority for us. 

Finally, what I would just say to you I think in terms of the 

North American Wetlands Conservation Act funding, I think it is 

a great example of the kind of conservation effort that we need to 

embark upon, and it underlies the America’s Great Outdoors and 

underpins the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Sitting with me 

in those committees over the last two years, often you have seen 

how much it is that we are able to leverage for wetlands, which are 

totally supported by the hunters and anglers of America and conservationists because there is a shortage of money, and so when we 

are able to put out a little bit of money through NAWCA funding, 

we are able to triple or quadruple the amount of money that comes 

in from Ducks Unlimited, and Trout Unlimited and state governments and so many others to really do a lot for conservation. So 

I think it is a good template. 

Mr. WITTMAN. Thank you. I think that is a great example of how 

we can take that source of income there and, as you said, leverage 

it in some pretty powerful ways and with partners who not only by 

themselves promote those efforts, but in conjunction with the government are out there making sure that we are preserving those 

critical habitats. Let me ask a little bit about the Land and Water 

Conservation Fund. The Fiscal Year 2012 budget request obviously 

enhances some of that, but I wanted to get your thoughts on how 

those efforts are going to provide continued outdoor recreational activity access to folks, and specifically in districts like mine, where 

those activities are a critical part of the economies of many areas 

here in the United States. I just want to get your thoughts about 

how those dollars are there to promote and to enhance those activities. 

Secretary SALAZAR. Congressman Wittman, what we will do is to 

work very closely obviously with the states and with local governments and nongovernmental organizations to identify those places 

that are the economic generators of our communities in terms of 

outdoor recreations, whether those are urban parks in communities 

in Virginia, or whether it is the protection and restoration of wetlands which are important for hunters and for anglers, but that is 

where that money would go. The amount really that is needed for 

doing what would be an appropriate job for Land and Water Conservation Fund is in the billions of dollars, and indeed, I think 

some estimates are somewhere between $5 billion and $10 billion, 

and so the amount that we have requested here, the $900 million, 

which is essentially what is authorized under the law, I think is 

a good investment relative to moving the economics around. As I 

said earlier, when we think about it, it is, you know, 6.5 million 

jobs that are just created through the outdoor recreational activities, and this is according to the Outdoor Recreation Foundation. 

The CHAIRMAN. Time of the gentleman has expired. The gentleman from California, Mr. Costa. 

35 

Mr. COSTA. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for holding 

this important hearing. Thank you, Mr. Secretary, for the good job 

that you are doing on a host of issues. You see me and of course 

you see water in California. Obviously, that is where I am going 

to focus my comments and questions. The Bay Delta Conservation 

Plan and the efforts that you folks are putting together are critical. 

If it is going to have any success and if the locals are going to continue to support it and participate financially, and the state, the 

consolidation and the efforts and the Federal participation is critical, and there has to be an end to the process. We have been processed to death on these issues for over a decade, and so I want to 

reiterate and get your quick response to the commitment on that 

Bay Delta Conservation Plan. 

Secretary SALAZAR. Congressman Costa, let me commit to you 

that we will continue to focus like a laser beam on the issues in 

the California Bay Delta. We appreciate your leadership and that 

of Congresswoman Napolitano and so many others who have 

helped on that effort. I want David Hayes, because he is leading 

this effort on the BDCP, to quickly give you a quick update on 

what we are doing on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan. 

Mr. COSTA. Quickly, because I want to get back to the San Joaquin River and water allocations this year. Quickly, David. 

Mr. HAYES. I will be very quick, Congressman. We are working 

very closely with the new Administration in California. This is a 

state driven process. We are full partners with the new resources 

secretary, John Laird, and Jerry Merrill, who is in charge of this 

for the Governor, and we will look forward to working with you and 

other members of the California Delegation as we move forward. 

Mr. COSTA. Mr. Secretary, I provided you a letter on February 

18 and actually hand delivered it as well when I saw you in the 

Valley last week. Thank you again for your participation at that 

historic dedication. In the letter we talked about a number of 

issues with regards to interim projects. Give credit where credit is 

due. We had difficulty two years ago on getting administrative 

flexibility in the operation of the project south of the Delta. Last 

year you came forward and did so. As a result, we got a 50 percent 

water allocation, we got $54 million in local projects, we got the 

construction of the Intertie Project that had been delayed for almost two decades. It is under construction, it will mean 35,000 

acre-feet of additional yield, so I want to credit you on those points. 

Today we have a situation where a number of districts are at 100 

percent of their allocation, and I commend that we did an early announcement at 50 percent, but we have continued to get rain this 

week and more snow in the mountains and it just seems to me before the new reductions kick in on April 1 and May that could provide additional allocation above 50 percent on the San Louis unit, 

that we need to take action. Mr. Connor said yesterday he is working on that. Is the issue within the Department of the Interior or 

Department of Commerce with NOAA as it relates to that specific 

flexibility? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Let me see if David knows the answer to that 

question. I would just say to you that we have spent a huge 

amount of our time working on a number of the projects that you 

36 

spoke about, and also dealing with improving how we are projecting the water availability to the agricultural community. 

Mr. COSTA. And that is important. You, as a farmer, know you 

make plans in February and March and you talk to your bankers, 

and if we are talking about May and June, forget about it because 

it is not going to do any good. 

Secretary SALAZAR. As a direct result of that and our conversations of last year, that is why we have the kind of, I hope, a better 

timeliness relative to giving farmers that kind of direction. On the 

specific question, David, do you have the answer to the Congressman? 

Mr. HAYES. Yes, Congressman. Last week, as you know, we had 

a collaborative settlement of the litigation surrounding the occupation of the system for the balance of this year. The water users 

came together with the environmental groups, with the state and 

with us, and together we agreed on how to operate to maximize 

how much water can be available through the next few months. 

That, together with the wet winter puts us in an extraordinarily 

good position in California. Also, that settlement, I think, demonstrated that everyone is working together here to reach a long 

term solution, which of course is what the Bay Delta Conservation 

Plan is all about. 

Mr. COSTA. Right. Quickly, before my time is up, there have been 

damages on third party agreements on the San Joaquin River settlement agreement. What efforts are you going to make to respond 

to those damages by third parties? I know you are familiar with 

it. Also, the timelines on the restoration. They are important, but, 

you know, Mr. Garamendi and I have discussed there are problems 

on channel clearing and all sorts of stuff that needs to be done, has 

to be paid for before we can even begin to talk about reintroduction 

of Salmon on 2013, that timeline. My time has expired, but I don’t 

know, Mr. Chairman, if you will allow him to answer the question. 

The CHAIRMAN. I would prefer to try to keep this going, but, Mr. 

Secretary, if you would respond to Mr. Costa in writing, and Mr. 

Hayes, that would be very, very beneficial. Thank you for your consideration. Chair recognizes the gentleman from Colorado, Mr. 

Coffman. 

Mr. COFFMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Secretary, welcome to the Committee and thanks for your service to our country. 

You know, I am very concerned about the overall economy. Having 

had four military overseas assignments in my career, four of which 

took me to the Middle East, I understand the instability there and 

its resulting impact potentially on oil prices and that unfortunately 

we are still reliant a lot on imported oil, and that, my concern is 

in this fragile recovery that we have right now, that a prolonged 

spike in oil prices will set this country back and will cause a double 

dip recession. I think that families in our home state and across 

the country are already feeling the effects of rising prices at the 

pump right now. I mean, if prices go north of $4, in Colorado go north of $5, that 

is not simply going to hurt families directly, but it is going to raise 

the transportation cost that is going to impact all of the goods that 

they buy from groceries to everything else. So I am very concerned 

that we are really going to be caught flat on our feet on this issue, 

37 

and everything you talked about today is going to raise the cost of 

oil and natural gas in the United States to the consumers. I understand that, you know, you have this new energy frontier that you 

are working on where you say that the Department’s New Energy 

Frontier Initiative to create jobs reduces the nation’s dependence 

on fossil fuels and oil imports, and reduce carbon impacts facilitating renewable energy development is a major component of this 

strategy, along with effective management of conventional energy 

programs, and so more solar projects, more wind projects. 

That is electrical generation and that doesn’t impact really our 

foreign imports because those are primarily used as transportation 

fuels and manufacturing processes. So, you know, I am sure that 

the truth lies somewhere in the middle, but from what you are saying and what folks like the Western Energy Alliance are saying, 

the producers of oil and gas are two very different things and they 

seem to suggest that you are throwing up every bureaucratic obstacle that you can find to develop oil and gas in the United States. 

That is certainly their view. I think that they say a number of 

things in terms of the decline of oil and gas production on public 

lands, on shore in the United States. 

So one question that I have—you also talked about increasing 

fees on oil and gas development in order to pay for the regulatory 

burdens that they impose and you talk, in your statement you 

mentioned that the Department has made significant advances in 

its priority goal to increase approved capacity for renewable energy 

production on Interior lands by at least 10,000 megawatts by the 

end of 2012 while ensuring full environmental review, and then 

you go on and talk about, you know, how you are going to increase 

that production. I guess one question I have for you, and let me tell 

you, I am an all of the above person when it comes to energy strategy for this country, but are you going to require on the renewables 

side that they also pay the regulatory costs of the burdens that 

they impose as you do on oil and gas side? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Congressman Coffman, the basic principle 

that we have is that we want a fair return to the American taxpayer, and so that is what we will do with solar and other renewable energy projects as well. I appreciate the fact that you are supportive of an all of the above kind of energy kind of program, and 

I appreciate your service to our country. Our own view of this, the 

President’s view and my view, is we need to have a robust domestic 

production. We also need to embrace alternative energy, including 

nuclear, and clean coal, and solar, and wind and geothermal, and 

we also need to embrace efficiency. Indeed, some of the efficiency 

measures that we now have with the higher CAFE standards are 

saving a significant amount of energy that we are importing into 

this country, and so, frankly, I think there is in this area of energy 

and the energy future for America a place where there may be an 

opportunity to find common ground between the Republican majority in the House of Representatives and the Administration. 

The CHAIRMAN. Time of the gentleman has expired. Gentleman 

from New Jersey, Mr. Holt, is recognized for five minutes. 

Mr. HOLT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Mr. Secretary. I am sure some days it doesn’t seem that you have such an 

exhilarating job, but you have a wonderful opportunity to show the 

38 

common ground between a vibrant economy and environmental 

protection and I thank you for how you are doing it. Earlier this 

week, as Mr. Markey pointed out, The New York Times had a series of articles about gas drilling and they reported that in 2009 

Wyoming failed to meet air quality standards for the first time in 

history and that one county in Wyoming with a population of less 

than 10,000 people but with one of the highest concentrations of 

drilling wells experienced ozone levels that were higher than those 

found in Houston or Los Angeles. Now, as part of the environmental assessment and permitting process does the Department of 

the Interior require monitoring or limitations on emissions from 

drilling activities on Federal lands? 

Secretary SALAZAR. The answer to that is Yes, and we are aware 

of some of the challenges that we face. 

Mr. HOLT. So you do require monitoring, and you do require limitations on those emissions. 

Secretary SALAZAR. On emissions, yes. 

Mr. HOLT. OK. Do you have sufficient statutory authority to do 

what you think needs to be done? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Let me have David Hayes answer part of the 

question. 

Mr. HOLT. OK. 

Mr. HAYES. Congressman, you are pointing out a very serious 

and important issue that is affecting a lot of folks, the air quality 

in some areas in Utah, Colorado and the four corners area generally. We are working with EPA to address monitoring needs in 

the area. BLM also has underway an examination of fugitive emissions to help reduce those emissions. We think we have the current 

authority required to help tighten up fugitive emissions and to reduce ozone-forming releases. 

Mr. HOLT. I hope you will report to me in more detail in writing 

of kind of what you are doing in those areas. There has been a lot 

of talk in the past year about standards for safety for offshore drilling. Has the Department revised its onshore regulations to make 

sure that the best practices are being observed? There are some 

new techniques, in particular, hydraulic fracturing, that are rapidly 

gaining prevalence in the industry. Has the DOI revised the regulations for best practice? 

Secretary SALAZAR. We have had a number of revisions to regulations trying to move forward with an onshore domestic production 

program that is efficient. We are looking at ways in which we can 

improve that beyond where we are today, and we know that there 

are companies out there that are very involved in best practices 

kinds of programs, including in hydraulic fracturing. 

Mr. HOLT. When were the regulations last updated? 

Secretary SALAZAR. It depends on which specific regulations you 

are speaking about. 

Mr. HOLT. Well, when were any new regulations promulgated for 

onshore gas extraction? 

Secretary SALAZAR. We have had a number of regulations that 

we have issued, including some this year, with respect to master 

leasing programs for oil and gas so that we can have a better way 

and a more understandable way of how we are going about our 

39 

leasing programs in the onshore and those rules were promulgated 

within the last year. 

Mr. HOLT. OK. Thanks. I will look forward to a fuller discussion 

of that also because it is a rapidly developing field and companies, 

producers, are learning a lot and I think we want to make sure 

that is reflected in any of the regulations that the government promulgates. I think with the limited time I will skip my next question but I just wanted to express my interest in your pursuing the 

idea of acquiring ongoing royalties for licensed areas that are not 

used in production. We have talked about that earlier this morning 

with Mr. Markey. I think it is only fair to taxpayers. It is not an 

undue burden on the producers, and I think it is something we 

really should move forward with. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Time of the gentleman has expired. The gentleman from Louisiana, Mr. Fleming, is recognized for five minutes. 

Mr. FLEMING. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Secretary, I represent the 4th District of Louisiana. I want to lay the foundation 

for my question here and it revolves around the Deep Horizon incident. First we had the spill, then we had a moratorium despite the 

fact that the President’s hand picked counsel recommended against 

it, then we had a de facto moratorium, and then we had a contempt of Court as a result of that, and I do want to quote the 

Judge, Judge Feldman, on that. He says, ‘‘The government continually reaffirmed its intention and resolve to restore the moratorium. It even notified operators that though a preliminary injunction had issued, they could quickly expect a new moratorium.’’ He 

went on to say that there was clear and convincing evidence of the 

government’s contempt of this Court’s preliminary injunction. 

It is kind of interesting because I know a lot of times, and you 

have testified before us before that you use following the law and 

court orders as the defense of your position, but it appears to me, 

and I will let you respond in a minute, that there is often selective 

enforcement. Finally, after the contempt was issued, we got one 

token permit. Now here is what the results have been so far. Loss 

of 20 percent of our deepwater rigs, we have 33 shallow-water rigs 

that are stacked which was not even part of the incident to begin 

with, Seahawk Drilling, a major player, has now filed bankruptcy, 

and we have thousands of good jobs now of very fine Louisiana citizens that have been lost, but the impact is worse than that. 

In a time when we are not doing anything in ANWR, at a time 

when hydrofracking is under attack, we have an estimate from the 

American Petroleum Institute that as much as 680,000 barrels of 

oil equivalent Gulf production a day could be at risk in 2019, that 

is to say if we don’t get back to drilling in the deep water we are 

going to find ourselves by 2019, the equivalent of 12 percent of the 

total U.S. current production being lost. So the impact is very significant and we well can’t really, in a time of a terrible economy 

and gas prices going up very quickly, we well cannot really I think 

afford this. Finally, those six rigs that have left the area now, they 

have gone to countries like Brazil and Egypt where the regulations 

and the oversight are much less than they are here. 

So my question is this. Considering all of those points, isn’t this 

really an overall policy by the Administration to allow gas prices 

to go up, to allow energy prices, fossil fuels, to go up by constricting 

40 

fossil fuel production in order to allow alternative fuels, which are 

not really cutting it in the marketplace, to allow those prices to 

come in parity and become more competitive? We have had, in fact, 

some testimony to suggest that, and, in fact, Steven Chu, Obama’s 

Energy Secretary, said that a gradual increase in gasoline taxes 

could coax customers into dumping their gas guzzlers and finding 

homes closer to where they work, suggesting that it could be actually a positive thing to see gas prices go up. So is this, sir, really 

attempt in order to drive the prices up so alternative fuels will be 

more competitive? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Congressman Fleming, with all due respect, 

I disagree with your characterization and your foundation, and the 

fact of the matter is that we have moved forward with drilling, 

both onshore and offshore. We have issued 37 shallow water permits. Indeed, your numbers are wrong relative to what is happening with rig activity in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2009, there were 

116 rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, in 2010, February, 120, in February 

2011 it is 126. You should ask the question why is the number of 

rigs going up in the Gulf of Mexico? The fact of the matter is that 

people are aware, we are aware at the Department of the Interior, 

this Congress is aware, that there are significant oil and gas resources within the Gulf of Mexico. It is a policy of this Administration to explore and to develop that oil and gas as we have been 

doing over the last several years. 

Mr. FLEMING. Well, of course we can quibble over the numbers, 

but the point is, at least from what we are seeing there, perhaps 

there are other things that organically were increasing underneath, 

but we are definitely seeing at least off the Coast of Louisiana a 

substantial decrease in new rig activity and without any real justification. With that, I yield back, sir. 

The CHAIRMAN. Time of the gentleman has expired. 

Secretary SALAZAR. The statistics, Mr. Congressman, are absolutely wrong. When you look at the production within the Gulf of 

Mexico, even in the midst of the national crisis of the Deepwater 

Horizon, the production has remained at an all time high and we 

expect that it will continue as we bring new production on line. 

The CHAIRMAN. This will clearly be a matter that will be pursued, I am sure. The gentleman from Northern Marianas, Mr. 

Sablan, is recognized for five minutes. 

Mr. SABLAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank 

you, Secretary Salazar, for your service to the country and for the 

attention that you and your Department, especially the Office of Insular Affairs, the attention they give to the territories, and in particular, the Northern Mariana Islands. We had a hearing yesterday 

and so there are issues that I brought up there that we will continue to pursue. I would like for you to know so, Mr. Secretary, 

that I do have some very serious concerns with the President’s proposal, including the language that the CIP money, which is under 

Title Covenant 702, CIP money, which started 100 percent for the 

Northern Mariana Islands in the past 33 years, because we had no 

representation here kept getting shaved away. 

We are now two-thirds—doesn’t come to the Northern Mariana 

Islands. Now there is some language there that proposes it could 

eventually erase it entirely for the Northern Mariana Islands. I 

41 

will be working with the Assistant Secretary on trying to fix that 

situation, but I think I object to that. Having said that, also, Mr. 

Secretary, as you know, I come from a district 14 islands and 

where gasoline is approaching $5 a gallon, electricity is over 40 

cents a kilowatt hour, people make the lowest minimum wage in 

the country, and from a territory whose GDP has decreased by over 

four percent in the last report that came out, I am concerned, sir, 

that the President’s budget is requesting for a decrease in money 

for assistance to the territories or that some of the monies being 

provided is going to fund the military viewed upon Guam when we 

have no idea when the first boots are going to land. 

We are going to buy money for public safety equipment to prepare for that eventuality, and we are, respectfully, sir, where I 

come from, we only have three patrol cars that is running and 

crime continues to increase, so I am going to need your help on 

that. Again, I will also in all fairness thank you, sir, and the attention that we, the Northern Mariana Islands, continues to receive 

from your Department continues to get better. We need to do more, 

but it continues to get better. I also would like to bring to your attention, and I brought this up to Director Gould yesterday, where, 

the issue of the Mariana Straits marine monument. There is no 

thought of that in the Fiscal Year 2012 budget, but maybe in future budgets we would have some movement on that because this 

is an area that is almost the size of Arizona and we, it is a great 

proposal I think, you know? It is going to be conserved. Three island units are involved in this and we need to eventually look at 

how to approach this and move forward with some of the promises 

that was made by the White House during negotiations for the establishment of this monument. Otherwise, Mr. Secretary, thank 

you very much for all that you do, sir. 

Secretary SALAZAR. Thank you very much, Congressman, and 

thank you for bringing the attention to us on the issues of the territories and the islands. It is part of the jurisdiction of Interior and 

we take it very seriously. Assistant Secretary Lovato is working on 

all of the issues which you raised and we will continue to try to 

make sure that we are honoring the partnership and the historic 

relationship that we have had with the Mariana Islands. 

Mr. SABLAN. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Gentleman yields back? Appreciate that very 

much. Gentleman from California, Mr. McClintock, is recognized 

for five minutes. 

Mr. MCCLINTOCK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Secretary, welcome. The Gulf oil disaster, as you have already testified, and its 

aftermath have been economically devastating to the region, and, 

for that matter, to the country. Ultimately, that disaster was 

caused by the catastrophic mechanical failure of the blowout preventer stack. This Committee received the report of the Graham 

Commission. I was astonished to learn that this Commission had 

not only not determined the cause of the BP stack preventer failure, but had not even bothered to look at the blowout preventer. 

Has this Administration yet determined the reason for the failure 

of the blowout preventer? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Well, the Deepwater Horizon and the 

Macondo well blowout was caused by problems relating to cementVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:08 Jun 17, 2011 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00045 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 L:\DOCS\64957.TXT Hresour1 PsN: KATHY
42 

ing, and casing and other issues that were very appropriately identified by the Deep Water—— 

Mr. MCCLINTOCK. Had the blowout preventer functioned properly, we would not have had the disaster, correct? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Let me finish the answer to my question. The 

blowout preventer is supposed to be the fail safe, which is a last 

resort to shut in a well. 

Mr. MCCLINTOCK. And it failed. Have you yet determined the 

cause of that mechanical failure? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Congressman McClintock, there is a joint investigation that is underway, we are getting close to the very end 

of that investigation and there will be a report, and we will be 

happy to share that report with you. 

Mr. MCCLINTOCK. Moving to wind and solar, don’t we have to 

have a megawatt of reliable standby power for every megawatt of 

wind and solar that we place on line? 

Secretary SALAZAR. You know, the interruptability issues are a 

reality when you are dealing with wind and solar energy, of course, 

and that is part of what you deal with—— 

Mr. MCCLINTOCK. So the answer is yes, for every megawatt of 

wind or solar we put on line we also have to then have an additional megawatt of standby reliable power for those moments when 

the clouds pass over a solar array or the wind drops off, correct? 

Secretary SALAZAR. I don’t have the information to argue with 

your statistics. I don’t believe your statistics are correct, but I 

would be happy to look into them. 

Mr. MCCLINTOCK. Well, it is an integrated grid. We have to constantly match the power being drawn off the grid with power being 

placed on the grid. Wind and solar are not reliable sources of power 

and we have to keep a megawatt of back up power for every megawatt of wind and solar. It is not that complicated a situation, but 

it is extremely expensive. My question is at a time of skyrocketing 

electricity prices, shouldn’t we be focusing on the cheapest forms of 

electricity rather than subsidizing the most expensive, and that expensive forms of electricity generation that also have to include an 

additional back up supply. 

Secretary SALAZAR. Congressman McClintock, I respectfully disagree because I think as you look at one of the central issues, 

which is our national security, as well as our economic security 

here in the country, we need to develop multiple sources of energy, 

including the clean energy resources, many of which have been developed in your state. We are very hopeful that that will be part 

of the clean energy future of America. We are falling far behind 

where Germany, and Spain, and China and a lot of other countries 

are because we have not opened up the door to this new energy 

world that we have worked on—— 

Mr. MCCLINTOCK. Actually, photovoltaic technology was invented 

175 years ago in 1836, and in 175 years of technological research 

and advancement have we yet invented a more expensive way of 

generating electricity? 

Secretary SALAZAR. There are a number of technologies that are 

underway, including a number of technologies which we are standing up with solar power plants that we have authorized in the 

deserts of the southwest. 

43 

Mr. MCCLINTOCK. So we are pouring untold billions of dollars, 

certainly hundreds of millions of dollars, into subsidies for the most 

expensive way that we have yet invented to produce electricity and 

have to require an additional back up supply to boot. Sir, with all 

due respect, I don’t think that is an intelligent energy policy. If I 

could just move to land for a second. Is the Department still considering the Modoc Plateau for monument designation under the Antiquities Act? 

Secretary SALAZAR. The what plateau? 

Mr. MCCLINTOCK. The Modoc Plateau in northeastern California. 

Secretary SALAZAR. Not to my knowledge. With all due respect, 

again, I think you are wrong on your energy policy and I don’t 

think we can be living in an energy policy that is—— 

Mr. MCCLINTOCK. Yes, I understand we disagree on that. So the 

Department has no further plans to designate the Modoc Plateau 

as a monument under the Antiquities Act? 

Secretary SALAZAR. I don’t have any specific information on that. 

Mr. MCCLINTOCK. Last year in this Committee, you testified that 

you had the discretion to waive the Endangered Species Act when 

it came to unemployment caused by the Delta Smelt regulation but 

that by doing so it would be admitting failure. After all of the economic dislocation that has occurred in the valley, have you reconsidered that position? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Well, that is an incorrect statement of what 

I said, but I would be happy to take a look at it. The fact is that 

ESA issues are very difficult and very complex, and as members of 

the California Delegation, and Governor Schwarzenegger and others—— 

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Secretary, wait. Could I ask you to respond 

to that question in writing? Because we are out of time on that particular question. 

Secretary SALAZAR. Absolutely, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. OK. Thank you very much. The gentlelady from 

Ohio is recognized for five minutes, Ms. Sutton. 

Ms. SUTTON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Secretary Salazar, 

thank you for your testimony today. In my district I am proud to 

have the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It is a large economic 

driver for our area with many communities benefitting directly 

from the success of the park. The Park Service in fact reported that 

in 2009 local spending at the park exceeded $50 million and added 

nearly 600 local jobs. Likewise, Lake Erie is also an economic engine of my region and I noticed in your opening statement you had 

mentioned being the guardian of Americans’ oceans and Americans’ 

lands, but we cannot forget the great lakes. So Lake Erie, you 

know, an economic engine from manufacturing, to boating, to 

drinking water, the health of that lake is critically important to the 

people that I represent, and I think to our nation as a whole. 

Lake Erie supports nearly 10 percent of Ohio’s jobs and gen- erates $750 million in state and local taxes, so I am extremely concerned that the budget, your budget, calls for $125 million cut to 

the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and I would like to have you 

talk a little bit more about that. I understand that funding is a 

critical issue for the future; however, Lake Erie supports so very 

many jobs and the Cuyahoga Valley is such an important economic 

44 

asset, as well as natural asset, to our area. So my questions are 

this. I know that you are aware that the continuing resolution that 

the House passed two weeks ago decimated the funding for the 

Land and Water Conservation Fund, providing the lowest level of 

this funding since 1965. You visited the Cuyahoga Valley National 

Park in 2009 so I know you are also familiar with the acquisition 

of land around the Blossom Music Center by the park, and that 

Blossom acquisition was funded through the appropriations process. 

The first piece in Fiscal Year 2010 and the second and final 

piece was in the original Fiscal Year 2011 budget, but there are no 

funds for this project in the Fiscal Year 2012 budget because it 

was assumed that the project would be concluded with funds in 

Fiscal Year 2011. This funding is critical to the national park in 

our district and critical to that acquisition project. Can you talk a 

little bit about the consequences of the cuts to the LWCF funding 

and the House passed continuing resolution on the Blossom project, 

and then talk a little bit more about what the budget going forward 

will mean for parks like ours that, it is the only national park in 

Ohio, it is a rare gem in the middle of what people think of oftentimes as a very industrialized area, and if you could also just talk 

a little bit more about the Great Lakes Restoration initiative which 

has been so incredibly important to our region’s broader strategy 

to create jobs. It has been conveyed to me repeatedly by communities throughout our area that it was that park that kept them 

going through these tough times. 

Secretary SALAZAR. Representative Sutton, I appreciate your 

energy and your enthusiasm for Cuyahoga National Park. It was 

my honor to be there and to help push along some of the renovations that are so important to that community, and I think you so 

eloquently hit the point in terms of the economic nexus between 

our outdoors and our national parks and local communities. Indeed, 

in most states when you think about tourism and the jobs that are 

created through tourism, it is a very significant part of our economy, and so as we deal with the difficult economic times of getting 

America back on solid economic footing, I think these kinds of investments are exactly appropriate. I am a strong supporter of the 

Blossom’s expansion project there at Cuyahoga, as well as other 

improvements that we have there. I don’t know the specifics on the 

budget with respect to Cuyahoga, but I would be happy to get back 

to you with that information. On the Great Lakes, if I may, because that was your other question, it is a signature landscape of 

the United States of America and I know how important it is to 

all of you in Ohio and to the states who share that. We have a 

major initiative interdepartmental where we are involved through 

a number of our different agencies at Interior and there is significant funding for the Great Lakes Initiative and we hope to be able 

to continue to make progress on the Great Lakes. 

Ms. SUTTON. I thank you, Mr. Secretary, and I look forward to 

working with the Department to make sure that we are taking care 

of both the park and of course our Great Lakes. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. Time of the gentlelady has expired. 

The gentleman from South Carolina, Mr. Duncan. 

45 

Mr. DUNCAN OF SOUTH CAROLINA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Thank you, Secretary Salazar, for being here today. The events in 

the Middle East magnify the need for American energy independence. We have heard already this morning about the rising gas and 

fuel prices and the effect on the American economy. America is 

blessed with abundant resources. I have traveled all over the country, I have seen and visited national parks, wilderness areas and 

enjoy the outdoors, but the abundant resources I want to talk 

about this morning include oil and natural gas resources and what 

we have on Federal lands. We have seen the policies of this Administration continue to thwart the efforts for more domestic production at a time when we need it the most through policies such as 

the de facto moratorium on deepwater drilling permits being issued 

and the post-Deep Water Horizon era, as well as limitations on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking as its know. The new budget proposal proposes cutting, or ending, nearly $1 

billion in existing programs such as those to fight wildland fires 

and economic development loans for Native Americans, shifting 

these funds to areas like increased land acquisitions and the controversial national ocean policy, as well as climate change 

adaption. There is $14 million in the proposal for New Energy 

Frontier Initiative which mandates increasing capacity for renewable energy production on Interior managed lands. In addition, the 

budge seeks $73 million for approval of wind, geothermal and solar 

projects on public lands, a $14 million increase over last year. 

American energy independence is a national security issue. We 

have the resources here in this country. A lot of the Federal land 

has been taken off the table. 

What I would like to hear from you this morning is the agency’s 

opinion on increasing production of energy sources on Federal land, 

the de facto moratorium on offshore drilling permits and what is 

being done. I appreciate that one permit was issued this week and 

hopefully we will see more of those, but the de facto moratorium 

on issuing those permits, the expiring oil and natural gas leases 

that are affected by those guys not being able to get out there and 

go to work. What are we going to do about those leases? Are there 

going to be an extension on those? Because they have been prohibited from going to tap that. Then also future lease sales. If you 

could answer those questions for me. 

Secretary SALAZAR. Thank you, Congressman. We have moved 

forward, as I said in my opening statement, with a robust oil and 

gas and energy program, both onshore as well as offshore, both 

conventional as well as renewable. I am proud of the record that 

we have and disagree with the conclusions that you state. With respect to what we are doing to increase production onshore, as I 

said, we have issued 5,200 leases in 2010, we expect that there will 

be an additional 2,000 leases issued this next year. There are 40 

million plus acres have been issued and are under lease for oil and 

gas development on the onshore. With respect to your second question on what you call the de facto moratorium, there is no moratorium. We are moving forward in a robust way to stand up oil and 

gas drilling. The policy of the President has been to move forward 

with the development of oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico and in 

the deep waters. 

46 

Mr. DUNCAN OF SOUTH CAROLINA. Excuse me. Don’t mean to interrupt you there, but by not issuing permits for those guys to get 

back out there and go to work even after they have met all the 

safety requirements in the post-Deep Horizon era is a de facto moratorium. 

Secretary SALAZAR. David Hayes and Michael Bromwich and I 

were in Houston on Friday and what we did was went out there 

to inspect firsthand what was going on with the oil spill containment mechanisms that are being built by both the Helix and the 

Marine Well Containment Corporation. As I said during that trip, 

and as I will say in front of this Committee, I am pleased with the 

progress that industry is making at dealing with the threat of another type of Macondo well blowout. There is still significant 

progress to be made, but it is on the basis of the oil spill containment, as well as the safety regulations that we have put into place 

for cementing, and casing, and third party inspection and a whole 

host of other things that we are now able to move forward with 

some assurance that we will be able to have safe drilling in the 

deep oceans of America. 

Mr. DUNCAN OF SOUTH CAROLINA. In the remaining time could 

you address future lease sales for me? 

Secretary SALAZAR. We are very hopeful and we are pushing 

hard to be able to meet the requirements so that we can have a 

lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico yet this year. 

The CHAIRMAN. Time of the gentleman has expired. Gentlelady 

from Massachusetts, Ms. Tsongas. 

Ms. TSONGAS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Secretary Salazar. I would like to follow up on an issue that Congresswoman Sutton just raised. I think the Administration’s request for 

full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund in Fiscal 

Year 2012 is a positive step forward in securing some of our nation’s most sacred and historic places, but I am concerned, as was 

she, that the recently passed continuing resolution will put critical 

projects proposed for the current fiscal year at serious risk and that 

there will continue to be further aggressive steps to cut the LWCF. 

I am especially concerned that further cuts to the LWCF will eliminate funding for Minute Man National Historical Park’s proposed 

acquisition of the Barrett Farmhouse. 

I am fortunate to represent that park located in Concord and 

Lexington. Recently there was legislation passed that brought the 

Barrett farm within the outlines of the Minutemen National Historic Park. This may seem like a very local issue but, in fact, 

Barrett’s farm is an important piece of American Revolutionary 

War history. It was the farm at which the minutemen stored their 

munitions and when the British Army learned about that, it 

prompted their march on Lexington and Concord, and Paul Revere 

road to alert the minutemen that the British were coming, leading 

Col. Barrett and his colleagues to hide the munitions so that when 

the British arrived the munitions were not, they could not find 

them, and then led to the shot heard around the world. So it is a 

very important piece of American history. 

The cut in the LWCF really does put at risk the park’s ability 

to acquire this farm for further preservation. It has been held over 

its many years by two families who finally made it available for the 

47 

park to include it within their boundaries and now is in need of 

great restoration. So in addition to threatening Minutemen Park’s 

capacity to acquire and preserve Barrett’s farm, what other nationally significant places will be put at risk by the funds, the cuts that 

are being proposed in the continuing resolution should the LWCF 

not be fully funded in 2012? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Representative, there are projects like the 

one you speak about all over the United States of America that 

would be impacted, and the fact of the matter is that I think you 

hit the nail on the head, and that is that these investments are investments that create jobs here in America. There are tourists that 

come from throughout the world to visit places, like many of our 

revolutionary places, and there are people throughout the country 

that go to communities, from the west to your state, to all the 

states of the country, and it is part of the huge economic activity 

which is a sustainable job creation program here in the country, 

and so LWCF, in my view, has to be looked through that lens. 

Ms. TSONGAS. Well, and the reality is also that it does have great 

economic benefit. We have heard the figures given, the way the 

tourism, the generation of jobs and all the other economic activity 

that it promote, but it also is a way in which we protect our past 

and there is nothing like visiting some of these spaces and places 

to have a deep appreciation of what we have accomplished as a nation. I am also fortunate to represent a historical national park in 

Lowell, Massachusetts. It is the first urban national park. The recently released Americas Great Outdoors report highlighted the importance of urban parks and community green spaces and stated 

that the establishment of urban parks was a priority of the initiative. 

Again, to address the issue of the economic development role of 

parks, not only did this park protect the cultural and historic legacy of a place that was the birthplace of the American Revolution, 

led to the preservation of architectural treasures, but it led to the 

revitalization of a city. Because of that steady stream of Federal 

funding that has come in, has really jump started significant investment through the private sector, through the nonprofit sector, 

through state and local initiatives that might not otherwise have 

taken place. So it played a critically important role. I would love 

to invite you to come visit it, especially as you undertake the American Great Outdoors Initiative, and encourage you to think about 

urban settings for those outdoors initiatives as well. Thank you, 

and I yield back. 

The CHAIRMAN. I thank the gentlelady for yielding back. 

Ms. TSONGAS. But not if you are going to say you would come 

visit. 

Secretary SALAZAR. Lowell is one of the great examples of a great 

urban park. You find them at St. Louis with the arch where we 

have a great vision for what we can do there to connect up three 

million people to that park and that every community around the 

country frankly has those kinds of opportunities. So I will come to 

Lowell to illustrate what you have done at Lowell because we can 

do it everywhere else in the country as well. 

Ms. TSONGAS. Thank you so much. 

The CHAIRMAN. I take that as being a yes. 

48 

Ms. TSONGAS. I take it as a yes, too. Thank you so much. 

The CHAIRMAN. Gentleman from Colorado, Mr. Tipton, is recognized for five minutes. 

Mr. TIPTON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Secretary, for being here. We come from common areas. My third congressional district has your ancestral home over on San Louis Valley, and I just completed a tour, my third, throughout the third CD 

since being elected. We have a lot of challenges that we face. On 

the western slope of Colorado better than 70 percent of our property is either Federal, state or tribal lands. Going through and visiting in our district, we have multiple issues that people are concerned about. The wildlands policy. There was great offense and 

concern that there were no public hearings that were held in terms 

of addressing some of these issues. We have in Mesa County, the 

county that had the highest per capita unemployment at one point 

last year in the entire United States, relies an awful lot on the development, responsible development, of our natural resources in the 

third congressional district to be able to benefit America. 

We also have a lot of senior citizens, young families, that are 

struggling right now to be able to pay their bills and they are seeing regulatory tax increases that are coming through from policies 

out of the Federal government that are impacting those electric 

bills, their ability to be able to meet their families’ needs. So I appreciate you taking the time to be here today and have just a few 

questions that I would like to be able to hear some of your 

thoughts on. First of all, in regards to some of the wildlands issues 

that we are going through, I did visit with ranchers, the oil and 

gas industry, local governments, the mineral industry, motorized 

recreational users, and they have all voiced strong opposition to the 

wildlands policy that is coming out. I just wanted to question you. 

Did you give a directive out to the BLM officials in the various districts, say in the third congressional district, to reach out to these 

groups prior to developing this concept? 

Secretary SALAZAR. We have been in significant communications 

with affected communities and those communications will continue. 

I think it would be useful for you, Congressman Tipton, maybe to 

hear from David Hayes who has been helping in the development 

of this policy and its implementation for just a minute or so. 

David? 

Mr. HAYES. Congressman, fundamental to the policy is in fact 

that no wildlands will be identified until there is a robust discussion at the local and state level through the amendment process, 

or if there are special projects proposed through a special discussion. So there has been a fundamental misunderstanding along 

those lines, but the—— 

Mr. TIPTON. Great. Mr. Hayes, I apologize, but we are kind of 

short on time. I did visit with the field office and one of the concerns I think we had is seeing an industry that is trying to be able 

to create jobs, trying to meet America’s energy needs and one of the 

problems that they are facing right now, some of the new technologies to be able to do some of the lateral drilling. Under the 

wildlands policy they are already without public input, they are already enforcing policy that, no, we aren’t going to allow you to drill 

underneath those public lands to be able to extract that natural reVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:08 Jun 17, 2011 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00052 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 L:\DOCS\64957.TXT Hresour1 PsN: KATHY
49 

source, never disturbing the surface. So you might want to visit 

with some of your local folks because I think that whether or not 

nothing is supposed to be done at this point, it is starting already 

to be able to happen. If I may kind of move on here. When we were 

talking a little bit, and I apologize, I had to step out, when you 

were talking about doing a good job and getting a fair return for 

the American taxpayer, have you run a cost benefit analysis when 

we are increasing the budget by approximately $14 million for 

some of the renewables going, I think the budget request now is 

about $73 million. Have you done a cost benefit analysis in terms 

of that return? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Congressman Tipton, we have not done, that 

I am aware of, a cost benefit analysis with respect to the investments in renewable energy. We have, and I am very proud of the 

fact that we have made significant progress in demonstrating the 

viability of wind, and solar and geothermal energies in many 

places, but in particular, in the southwestern part of the United 

States, and communities, for example, in Milford, Utah, where we 

have a huge wind project, and the potential solar project and transmission line, and there are places in Colorado as well that can benefit. 

Mr. TIPTON. Great. Yes. And one thing, I think I would really encourage you to take a look at this, you know, because I think it is 

important in these tough economic times because I have literally 

walked the streets of Alamosa, of a lot of towns that a number of 

people here have not heard of, and people are struggling right now. 

Some of these costs, we need to do these cost benefit analyses because that will go to the electric bill. One of the problems we have 

also is some of the hydroelectric. We release in artificial floods out 

of the Glen Canyon Dam—I am sorry. We ran out of time. May I 

submit some questions to you? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Absolutely. 

Mr. TIPTON. Appreciate that. Thanks. 

Secretary SALAZAR. Feel free to call me any time. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much. I appreciate the gentleman. His time has expired. The gentleman from New Mexico, 

Mr. Luja ́n. 

Mr. LUJA ́ N. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. To Mr. Secretary Salazar and Deputy Secretary Hayes, I want to thank you 

for being here. You know, oftentimes, sometimes we can be tough 

with you, but we appreciate the compassion and the passion that 

you share for our nation, for the people and for the responsibilities 

that you have. I think sometimes we need to sit back and truly understand how we have to come together to work together as a team. 

In light of many of the things that have taken place across the 

country, that time is now, and we have to get there. So again, I 

appreciate your patience today, Mr. Secretary, and your indulgence. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you again for holding this 

important hearing and for inviting Secretary Salazar and for the 

team to be with us today. 

New Mexico is a very special place with a very close connection 

to the Department of the Interior. Like many other states in the 

West, we rely on the support for projects from the Department of 

the Interior to make critical investments in rural and oftentimes 

50 

disadvantaged areas. My district in New Mexico includes 15 pueblos, the Hickory Apache Nation and a portion of the Navajo Nation, 

two national forests, approximately 2.5 million acres of BLM land, 

two wildlife refuge, four Bureau of Reclamation dams and seven 

national parks and monuments. You can see this is important to 

me. So you can see how closely attached the Department of the Interior is to the people of New Mexico and to our public lands. 

Often the need for adequate funding within the Department of 

the Interior is clear and present in the daily lives of my constituents. The investments the Department of the Interior makes are 

critical to my state and our nation. As I said yesterday in our Subcommittee with the BOR, these investments strengthen the backbone of America by making resources available for economies to 

grow, and without them critical infrastructure resource management would be virtually nonexistent for the people of New Mexico, 

so the funding levels in the budget request for the 2012 fiscal cycle 

are important to maintain our public lands. Mr. Secretary, before 

I ask a few questions, and whatever I don’t get to I am going to 

submit them for a response in writing, there has been a lot of discussion about the cost of oil today and I think that we all need to 

be aware of this because back home this is hurting people. 

It is going to drive up the cost of eggs, milk, bread, every part 

of everybody’s life. There was a question that you were asked early 

on and your response included some information about where we 

were in the United States in 2010 and I was curious if you could 

please share that information with us again, if you can find it. One 

thing I want to point out is that, and I don’t know if it has been 

talked about, Mr. Chairman, but in today’s Financial Times there 

was an article that said that U.S. oil production last year rose to 

its highest level in almost a decade. As a result, analysts believe 

the U.S. was the largest contributor to the increase in global oil 

supplies last year, over 2009, and is on track to increase domestic 

production by 25 percent of the second half of the decade. 

According to the U.S. government’s Energy Information Administration, domestic production of crude oil and related liquids rose 

three percent last year to an average of 7.51 million barrels a day, 

its highest level since 2002. I think that there are some options 

that we have, Mr. Secretary. I know that Senator Binghamton, 

along with Chairman Markey, have asked for the President to consider using strategic oil reserves, and I think that is something 

that we need to take seriously because these prices are being driven up by speculation of what is happening in the Middle East and 

we don’t have a seat with those OPEC cartels. We need to make 

sure that we are solving these problems domestically, but again, 

that we are paying credit where credit is due. It is important that 

we look at this closely. 

This is one of those areas where we have to come together as a 

Congress, as a nation, to make sure that we are going to provide 

the necessary relief to the American people during these very fragile economic times. So, Mr. Secretary, the first question that I 

would ask, and if you could include the response that you have 

there, and I see my time has quickly run out, Mr. Chairman, so 

most of my questions, Mr. Secretary, involve funding for our tribes, 

not only with concerns that I have with BIE schools, with funding 

51 

that has been allocated but sometimes may take up to a decade to 

get out to our communities, and I am hoping that we can visit 

some of those issues, and I will submit those into the record. 

I certainly look to make sure that also as we take into consideration some of the cuts that are being recommended, and I know 

they are tough ones, that tribes are not hit more than anyone else. 

Tribal leaders have told me that we don’t mind the reductions, as 

long as we are treated fairly. So, Mr. Secretary, I apologize for taking up the time there without giving you a chance to respond, I will 

submit these to the record, but I thought it was important that we 

shed some light, especially on what is happening with the price of 

oil and that there are true answers that are amongst us to be able 

to provide relief to the American people. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. I thank the gentleman, and we have established 

a precedent of when a question is asked and time runs out, the 

Secretary will respond, so, but I appreciate the gentleman’s looking 

at that. Gentleman from Arizona, Mr. Gosar, is recognized for five 

minutes. 

Dr. GOSAR. Good afternoon, Secretary Salazar, and thank you. I 

represent Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, one of the largest 

congressional districts in the country. The district is comprised of 

26.1 million acres of Federal and tribal lands, close to 70 percent 

of the total land. I have particular concerns about the millions of 

dollars proposed in the President’s budget for the proposed purchase for more Federal lands, particularly in light of the estimated 

billions of dollars of maintenance and management backlogs that 

are existing on Federally owned lands. Proper forest maintenance 

and management is very important to me and my community, particularly in light of a tragedy that occurred last year in my hometown of Flagstaff, Arizona, and it is to this that I would like to 

highlight the need for proper management and maintenance of existing inventory. 

As you know, last June a wild fire destroyed more than 15,000 

acres of steep terrain in the Coconino National Forest known as 

the Schultz Pass. The wild fire scorched earth on this steep, volcanic terrain leaving little ground vegetation to absorb and hold 

back rain water. In addition, unusually high concentrations of 

forest fuels that had built over decades ignited and baked the unusually crumbled volcanic dacite into a crystal-like impervious substance which takes decades to be broken down just to grow grass. 

On July 6, 2010, the Forest Service Burn Unit Emergency Response Team issued a report to the residents living near the base 

of the peaks stating they would face a constant daily flooding 

threat from summon monsoon storms and publicly urged them to 

purchase flood insurance. 

Two weeks later, before insurance could be enacted, nearly two 

inches of rain fell in less than an hour causing flash flooding to the 

communities downstream from the Schultz Pass fire. Widespread 

flooding and debris disrupted and destroyed public infrastructure, 

damaged approximately 32 homes in the community and tragically 

led to the death of a 12 year old girl. There are some great long 

term ideas and projects in the works for maintenance and stewardship of our forests such as the Four Forests Restoration Initiative 

which works with local communities to manage them, and it is 

52 

time that we got people back to work. However, my community has 

an urgent need for short term protection measures to be implemented before the summer monsoon seasons begin. Up to 1,200 

homes are now considered to be in a flood zone and owners are living with uncertainty about their personal safety, financial risk and 

the inability to obtain flood insurance. 

Coconino County is making progress on developing an engineering flood plain control plan and getting as many parties to the 

table as possible to assist in their efforts. Members of the community have taken desperate measures to mitigate short term flood 

risks, digging trenches, canals, placing sandbags around their 

homes. A group of homeowners in a high risk area have built a coalition and have volunteered to build check dams on the Federal 

land but have been denied access to the land by the Forest Service. 

The Forest Service has not committed to mitigation projects on the 

national forests such as diversion channels, retention basins, even 

water barriers constructed from the remains of cut, burned trees 

locked behind existing stumps. 

The Forest Service, because of the wilderness designation that 

existed for this area prior, will not allow county equipment on site 

to repair a water pipeline damaged by the fire and flooding that 

the city desperately needs. We need your help now. Another disaster could occur if actions are not taken before July, the beginning 

of the monsoon season. It is critical the Forest Service and other 

relevant government agencies under your jurisdiction coordinate together and with local communities to expedite the flood protection 

measures to address the immediate threat posed by the post-fire 

and flood land conditions. I invite you to join me in Flagstaff at 

your earliest convenience and my community will show you the urgency of the situation. We have a pending emergency and we need 

your direct assistance. Will you help us? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Congressman Gosar, I would be happy to find 

out more about it and see what it is that we can do and have conversations with my colleague Tom Vilsack and members of the 

Forest Service to see how, if there is anything that we can do to 

be helpful. You describe a situation which obviously I am sure is 

not only of concern to you, but to a lot of other people. 

Dr. GOSAR. I would look to your earliest response, please. Thank 

you. Yield back my time. 

The CHAIRMAN. I thank the gentleman for yielding back. The 

gentleman from California, Mr. Garamendi, is recognized for five 

minutes. 

Mr. GARAMENDI. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Secretary and 

Deputy Secretary, thank you very much for your patience and for 

your answers. Repeatedly, my colleagues on the other side of this 

horseshoe have tried to blame you for the rapidly increasing price 

of oil. Seems to me beyond ludicrous to do so unless one were to 

think that somehow you are responsible for the uprisings in Libya 

and Egypt, the war in Iraq, the rise of China and India and their 

demand for oil. Having said that, I might recommend that next 

time you come, you come with a Power Point and present to us all 

of the information that you have not been allowed to present, specifically what you have done to increase the production of oil and 

gas in the United States. You have a remarkable story. You have 

53 

gotten some of it out. I am going to give you the rest of this time, 

except for the last minute, to put those facts into this record. What 

have you done, and what has happened with regard to oil and gas 

production in the United States over the last couple of years? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Thank you very much, Congressman 

Garamendi. Let me just say I think that we all need to put this 

in the context of the overall comprehensive energy program which 

the President has advocated which he addressed in the State of the 

Union. First, we need to continue to move forward with conventional oil and gas production, as well as other energy resources. 

Second, we need to open the door to new energy resources, such as 

solar, and geothermal and wind, which we have spoken about. 

Third, we also need to address the issue of efficiency and major 

progress which we have made in the last two years to reduce the 

consumption of oil within our country. So all of those things have 

to be done. Focusing specifically, though, on just the oil and gas 

facts, to me, the top lines are very interesting. 

I mean, the fact that we have gone from importing 50 percent of 

our oil, or 60 percent of our oil, just a few years ago and now we 

are importing only 50 percent of our oil, the fact that we have increased by more than a third the amount of oil that we are bringing from the Outer Continental Shelf, the fact that we have increased by five percent the amount of oil that we are producing 

from our public lands onshore, the fact that we are increasing the 

amount of natural gas that is being produced onshore. So the statistics speak for themselves in terms of the amount of oil and gas 

that is being produced domestically, as well as the acreage that is 

being made available, both offshore as well as onshore, to increase 

production. 

Mr. GARAMENDI. Thank you for that. If you could provide the additional detail for the record, it would be very helpful to us. Sometimes facts make inconvenient arguments when one wants to be on 

ideology rather than facts. With regard to wildlands, Deputy Secretary Hayes, for several times you have attempted to explain the 

wildlands policy. If you could lay out why the Secretary order has 

been promulgated and how you are implementing it, it would be 

helpful to all of us. 

Mr. HAYES. Thank you, Congressman. The order has been laid 

out to provide more clarity to all parties with interests in public 

lands regarding the availability of lands for different purposes. As 

you know, the Secretary has a legal obligation to consider multiple 

uses of lands. One of those uses authorized and required by law is 

to consider conservation and for some lands it makes sense that 

that is the use that is identified for those lands. Right now there 

is enormous confusion on many public lands about what lands are 

available or what are not, or what are appropriate for leasing or 

what are not. Utah is the perfect example. 2.4 million acres of land 

have been identified as having wilderness characteristics, but because there has been no guidance to BLM folks about whether 

those lands are appropriate for specific uses or not, no review, no 

discussion. 

Where leasing has gone ahead, many of the leases have been protested. In Utah, more than 50 percent of all leases are protested, 

in part because of the conservation groups and others are just now 

54 

routinely filing protests since there is no clarity as to whether certain lands are appropriate for oil and gas leasing or not. The idea 

here is simply to improve the process, the public process, that will 

answer that question so that there is clarity on all sides as to the 

areas. It is not true that all lands with wilderness characteristics 

will be characterized as wildlands. As Bob Abbey, the BLM Director, just testified two days ago, in Utah, the first example that 

came forward of proposed potash facility on lands with wilderness 

characteristics was determined to go forward under that policy. So 

we are looking forward to a robust dialogue through the process of 

RMPs and active public involvement to determine whether some of 

those lands should be identified as wildlands. 

The CHAIRMAN. Time of the gentleman has expired. The gentleman from Texas, Mr. Flores. 

Mr. FLORES. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Secretary 

Salazar, and the rest of your team for joining us today. I have an 

opening statement that I have prepared that will be submitted for 

the record separately. I would like to start with the preamble that 

our domestic energy resources are an important component of being 

able to grow a strong domestic economy, to be able to provide good 

private sector jobs and to promote our national defense. Department of the Interior’s activities to affect drilling permit moratoria, 

drilling permit slow downs, are hurting all of those. I would also 

submit that our best strategic energy reserves are not those in the 

strategic petroleum reserves, they are those on the public lands 

that our taxpayers own, the public lands and offshore areas. 

We are one of the few countries in the world, if not the only 

country in the world, that puts our domestic resources off limits so 

that we are forced to import from other countries. Since 2008, the 

energy royalties and lease income from the Federal government, 

and before you try to rebut my facts, this comes from the Office of 

Natural Resources’ revenue, says that our revenues from offshore 

in 2008 have gone from $16 billion to $8 billion. That certainly is 

not a good way to handle a taxpayer resource. In the alternative, 

we should be capitalizing on the trillions of dollars of taxpayer 

owned natural resources that we have to grow our economy, fuel 

domestic job growth and assure our national security. Not only did 

the Department of Energy enact a drilling moratorium in deep 

water, it is also engaged in dramatic slow down in issuing shallow 

water permitting, which has operated in an environmentally safe 

manner for over 30 years. 

Before we try to rebut those facts, the average number of new 

well permits in the years 2006 to 2008 was 330 a year. Last year 

it was 104, this year it has been 13. That comes from the BLM RE 

database. What is next? The actions of the Department of the Interior is an integral component of the current increase in gasoline 

prices, which began before the Middle East uncertainty, and each 

$1 increase in gasoline prices is $120 billion tax on the consumers 

of this country. I would submit to you that that dwarfs the 10,000 

megawatts of power that the Department of Energy is trying to 

produce, or the impact of the entire budget of the Department of 

the Interior. 

Historically, the U.S. has always been a country that companies 

wanted to do business in because we followed the rule of law, and 

55 

we also had a transparent permitting process that was not arbitrarily followed. I have been involved with offshore drilling all 

around the world, and I have seen both models, where we follow 

the rule of law and where we have arbitrary and capricious regulatory models, and what I have seen, particularly in shallow water 

drilling in the last few months, has been the latter. That is not the 

way to make ourselves more energy secure. So my question is this. 

How do the Department of the Interior’s actions serve to grow the 

American economy, to help promote private sector job growth, to 

assure our national security not only for current generations, but 

for future generations? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Congressman Flores, I appreciate the question. First, in terms of what we do relative to be part of the economy of this country, we do it both with respect to oil and gas, as 

well as with respect to other energy resources, as well as with respect to many of the outdoor recreational programs that we have 

spoken about this morning. 

Mr. FLORES. And those can co-exist, I believe, can’t they? 

Secretary SALAZAR. They can, and we believe that that is part of 

what we are attempting to do within the Department of the Interior. Couple of points. With respect to the revenue issue that you 

raised, 2008 was a year in which oil and gas prices were high so 

that was an abnormal amount of revenue that we received that 

year. On average we get $9, $10, $11 billion a year and we are on 

track to do that for this year from oil and gas production. In terms 

of permits, I think you would understand being from the energy 

world that after the Deepwater Horizon and the expectation that 

you would never see a Macondo well style blowout, that we had to 

take action to make sure that we are protecting people, like those 

11 people that were killed on the rig, as well as—— 

Mr. FLORES. Yes, but do you look at shallow water drilling? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Yes. 

Mr. FLORES. We haven’t had issues in shallow water drilling for 

30 years and we have had a dramatic slow down in the issuance 

of shallow water drilling permits. 

Secretary SALAZAR. Congressman, we have moved forward with 

shallow water permitting. There were additional requirements on 

safety that we impose on the shallow water drillers. There are 37 

permits that have already been issued, and we expect to have a robust oil and gas production coming out of the Gulf. I think, and I 

would ask you, Congressman Flores, to think about this, that our 

policy program and objective here is the same. The President of the 

United States and I support a strong oil and gas production in the 

Gulf of Mexico. I would expect that you, as well as other members 

of the industry, would want us to do it in a safe way that protects 

people and protects the environment. That is why the budget that 

is in front of you is a part of that effort, to make sure that we are 

able to do that. I would hope that we, in America, can create the 

gold standard for safe oil and gas production in the oceans of this 

world. 

The CHAIRMAN. Time of the gentleman has expired. The gentleman from Arizona, Mr. Grijalva. 

Mr. GRIJALVA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and, Mr. Secretary, 

thank you for, let me extend my appreciation for the job that you 

56 

are doing, the very difficult job of balancing extraction from our 

public lands and waters and balancing that with the preservation, 

conservation and recreational needs of those lands and waters as 

well. It is a difficult job and let me extend my appreciation for the 

fine job you are doing with that. Just for the record, there was 

seven shallow water permits issued in December which matches 

the monthly total from the year before the spill occurred, so in reference to the point that you made, Mr. Secretary, facts do come 

into play in this whole discussion and I hope as we go forward with 

this discussion, as the Chairman indicated, that facts and science 

play a role in the deliberations. 

You know, as the Middle East, and Libya in particular, struggle 

to form some form of democratic governance in their own countries, 

those are terrific challenges, I hope that struggle doesn’t become an 

opportunity to shield, for the oil and gas industry to go back to 

some unregulated winner take all policy with regard to extraction 

from our lands and waters. There is prudence involved here and 

there is the safety and the health of the American people as well. 

Land and Water Conservation Fund. My colleagues on the other 

side of the aisle took the President’s $900 million recommendation, 

drove it down, cut it down to $60. Implications in terms of what 

that—if that figure were to hold, what would be the implications 

for the work of the Interior Department and the work of communities in terms of that fund? We have already established the fact 

that we are not cutting, we are not saving and it is not costing the 

taxpayer any money in the Land and Conservation Fund. That was 

established earlier in this hearing. So I just want to know, what 

would be the implications of that? Then I have a couple of other 

quick questions. 

Secretary SALAZAR. Well, first, Congressman Grijalva, thank you 

for your leadership, especially working on so many issues that are 

important to Interior and to the Nation in your district in Arizona. 

With respect to oil and gas leases, you are correct. The numbers 

are out there and we would be happy to get the specifics, but we 

have moved forward as quickly as we can when we were at a point 

in time where we could assure that we were moving forward in a 

safe way in the issuance of permits and so that is why you have 

seen the additional shallow water permits issued, and we hope to 

be able to move forward with additional deepwater permits as well 

in the relatively short future. With respect to the Land and Water 

Conservation Fund, it is a modest investment in the future of 

America because the dollars that we are putting in to buying in 

holdings and connecting up wildlife corridors and the rest of the 

things to get American people into the outdoors are important to 

the hunters and anglers of this country, they are important to the 

bikers of this country and they are a huge part of the economic engine of the United States of America. As I said earlier, just the outdoor industry alone independently will tell you that there are 6.5 

million jobs created a year in this country. Those are not jobs that 

can be exported. So the kinds of investments that we make with 

LWCF are, and have, seen that economic future for the U.S. 

Mr. GRIJALVA. Thank you. The Clear Act passed the House, 

didn’t go anywhere in the Senate, and part of that was some of the 

reforms that you had recommended after the spill and things that 

57 

needed to be done internally and externally. Now that we are talking about this budget, are you still going to have the capacity internally, you did some administrative changes, to carry out some of 

those administrative changes given the resources that might or 

might not be available to the Department so that we can continue 

to prevent what happened in the Gulf from not happening again? 

Secretary SALAZAR. The request that we have in the President’s 

budget for offshore oil and gas activities for the Bureau of Ocean 

Energy Management are essential for us to move forward with the 

robust oil and gas permitting program in the nation’s oceans. Without those resources, frankly, we are not going to be able to move 

forward with the permitting process in the way that we want to because you need to have people to be able to go out and do the jobs, 

issue the permits, do the inspections, do the monitoring. 

Mr. GRIJALVA. Thank you. 

Secretary SALAZAR. All that needs to happen, and so that is one 

of the initiatives that is at risk if that part of this budget is not 

funded. 

Mr. GRIJALVA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The other questions 

that I have, everything from bats to wild horses, the wild horses 

being something that I know the Secretary likes to hear about from 

me, I will submit those in writing, sir. 

The CHAIRMAN. And please be sure to share the response with 

all the other Members. 

Mr. GRIJALVA. Depends what it is. No. Of course I will. 

The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Louisiana, Mr. Landry, is 

recognized for five minutes. 

Mr. LANDRY. Mr. Secretary, I will dispute some of your facts, 

which I am sure you will go back and dispute, but the Department 

of Energy shows that we have about a 300,000-barrel loss in Gulf 

of Mexico production, but the one fact that is undisputable is that 

Americans have been paying more at the pumps since January of 

2009 until today. The price at the pump has continued to increase. 

I am going to give you an opportunity to explain this robust energy 

policy that you all are trying to lay out for me. You implemented 

the drilling safety rule for offshore to enhance safety in upstream 

oil and gas business, is that correct? 

Secretary SALAZAR. That is correct. 

Mr. LANDRY. OK. Does this rule apply to drilling activity on onshore Federal lands? 

Secretary SALAZAR. There are different realities on shore. 

Mr. LANDRY. And would you say that those realities are based on 

past history and safety aspects? 

Secretary SALAZAR. The realities are based on experiences, as 

well as just the differences of regulating in the offshore and the onshore, and let me be specific. When you start dealing with the Gulf 

of Mexico, which I know you are very concerned about, and you 

start drilling in places that are 5,000, 6,000—— 

Mr. LANDRY. OK. Whoa, whoa, whoa! But I don’t want to go 

there yet because what I want to show you is that based upon the 

history on the shelf, with over 40,000 wells drilled on our shelf we 

have not had an accident on that shelf in any magnitude in the 

deep water, and yet our shallow water permits continue, continue 

to lag. In fact, a three year permit average from 2007 to 2009 had 

58 

an average of 28 permits per month that were issued. In the first 

quarter of 2010 that average was 21, in the second quarter of 2010 

it was 12, the third, 13, the fourth, 18. The average for this year 

is six. Now, what I want you to explain to me is that if you are 

saying that the onshore drilling is safe and you are using a history, 

which I think is correct, but yet the shelf has that same history 

and safety record, but yet you are treating it different, to me, that 

is not robust. 

In fact, not only are your drilling permits and your construction 

permits lagging, but I have oil and gas companies who are trying 

to keep people to work in my district doing P&A work, plugging 

and abandoning, at a time when I think it was your agency who 

had made some comments back after the Deepwater Horizon incident that the industry should be cleaning up some of its idle iron. 

Well, I want you to know that the permit process in New Orleans 

is at a dead standstill when it comes to P&A work. Now, this is 

work that the Administration claims needs to be done. When I look 

at the budget I wonder if you are actually utilizing your resources, 

because if I am not mistaken, the BLM offices, if you give me a second, are scattered out from Houston to New Orleans, I think there 

is one in Lake Charles. Well, there is one in New Orleans, Homer, 

Lafayette, Lake Charles and Lake Jackson. It seems to me that we 

could do some consolidation and get some streamlining at least for 

P&A permits so that we can keep people to work while you all continue this robust energy policy that we are moving forward. 

Wouldn’t you agree? 

Secretary SALAZAR. If I may, on your comments, just quickly, two 

points. The first is on the issue of gas prices. The fact is that the 

price of oil is set worldwide and we are able to influence that in 

terms of domestic production. The experts, the economists, tell us 

that we don’t have an influence on that. 

Mr. LANDRY. Well, but if that is the case, then how can the gentlemen on the other side of this aisle claim that utilizing the strategic reserve would give us some relief at the pump? Because all 

that is increasing the supply. 

Secretary SALAZAR. Well, the strategic petroleum reserve is a tool 

that was set up to deal with disruptions in the market after incidents like OPEC and perhaps the incident now. 

Mr. LANDRY. And for incidents of national security. But we have 

a great strategic reserve in the Gulf of Mexico—— 

Secretary SALAZAR. I agree. 

Mr. LANDRY.—that is a lot cheaper than utilizing that one. I 

don’t understand. At first you said it is set, the price is set on the 

world market, and I agree with that, but what affects that price 

is supply and demand, don’t you agree? 

Secretary SALAZAR. That is true, including the demand from 

China, and India and the rest of the world. 

Mr. LANDRY. But there is also a reason why brand crude oil 

prices are higher than U.S. crude prices, and sometimes it has to 

do with delivery options. So my point is that when we drill domestically, the ability to get that resource into our refineries comes at 

a much lesser cost because of the transportation costs out there. So 

all of those things come into a factor when you should be considering your energy policy. That is why I think that its failed, that 

59 

you are treating the Gulf of Mexico and you are painting it with 

one brush. 

Secretary SALAZAR. Let me just say the fact is that we have increased production in the country. Those facts are indisputable 

over the last two years. Second, your legitimate question which you 

asked which isn’t just a political diatribe is the question of how we 

are doing the new Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the 

consolidation. There are legitimate questions that you raise there 

and we are looking at those very seriously. What we want to do is 

to establish a robust agency that can, in fact, do the job that it has 

to do and it may include some of the consolidations and some of 

the moves that you raised in your question. 

The CHAIRMAN. Time of the gentleman has expired. The 

gentlelady from California, Mrs. Napolitano, is recognized. 

Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good to see you again, 

Mr. Secretary, Mr. Hayes. There are some questions that I am 

going to have to submit for the record. If you wouldn’t mind returning them in writing to this Committee. I certainly want to kind of 

dovetail some of the comments on the hydrofracking for the fact 

that there are some issues in my backyard that are beginning to 

affect the residents’ concerns over the contaminated water that 

hydrofracking leaves behind. I am not sure whether we can address 

or whether we can maybe help those folks be able to understand 

it. California crude is heavier than most of the other crude. Second, 

I want to congratulate Commissioner Connor for working heavily 

with us on Title 16, especially with the error money, to make real 

water and put people to work. That is just absolutely a must in the 

West. 

Then, moving into the Native American focus, the tribal recognition, moving forth on that and putting a lot more focus on some 

of their issues. The Bureau of Indian Affairs received a budget increase for energy initiatives and I know that IBEW, electrical 

workers, and NECA, the electrical contractors, have submitted a 

white paper, including some of the reservations in my area, that 

are looking at placing on site manufacturing of solar panels and 

training of Native Americans for jobs into the electrical contracting, 

or electrical manufacturing, electrical contracting, so that develops 

not only jobs, it brings back manufacturing to the U.S., brings solar 

panel manufacturing to the U.S. provides electrical journeymen 

training to Native Americans as they get job development, and economic development. There are 20 tribes actually lined up to work 

with these two organizations that are moving forth on this, and I 

would love to see where the Department is on this and if there is 

going to be any focus to help Native Americans be able to have that 

ability to do this. 

Second, the budget request includes a new account for National 

Land Imaging Program overseeing the operation of the Landsat 

satellites, providing global land cover data used by academia, agriculture, researchers, the world, in fact. Like to congratulate the Department on the work done so far and the Water and Science Agency and the Landsat. One of the concerns I have is that it is essential to the imaging environment, impacts the ground and aquifer 

imaging. The DOI budget request, will it be sufficient to ensure 

that the land-based operations are ready to handle the thermal inVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:08 Jun 17, 2011 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00063 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 L:\DOCS\64957.TXT Hresour1 PsN: KATHY
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frared sensoring, the TIRS, T-I-R-S, when Landsat launches in December of next year? We have been told by many of the water 

agencies, they utilize this information, that it is critical for them, 

it is critical for farmers. Then third, the water challenges, the 

water shortages and water use conflicts is one of your seven initiatives for 2012. How will the proposed reductions in spending for 

these basic data gathering, of course the USGS stream gauging and 

the ground water monitoring specifically that affect the work that 

we do on water, impact DOI’s ability to fulfill its statutory mandates, affect decision support and impact states and other nonFederal partners? I could go on, but those are the ones that I really 

have and you can take any one of them and the rest I will submit 

for the record because I will be yielding. Well, in fact, all of them 

for the record and I yield one minute to Mr. Garamendi. 

Mr. GARAMENDI. Thank you. A lot of discussion going on here 

about energy but I would point out that the oil market is an international market and whatever happens here in the United States 

with drilling and the like is not going to change that price of oil 

very much. We should also note that the oil industry, the big five, 

in the last decade had just short of $1 trillion in profits. As this 

price rises, the world is going to see that $18 or $16 billion go back 

up from whatever it is today, as was discussed. I want to commend 

the Department for every effort you are making to become less dependent on grid energy and more dependent on renewable energy. 

You are doing a lot. What you have done in the deserts with your 

renewables, very good. More needs to be done. We know we have 

a series of problems and I know that you are trying to attack those 

problems so that we can move away from our dependency on foreign oil. Your record is very good. You should stay with it. 

The CHAIRMAN. Time of the gentleman has expired. The gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Johnson, is recognized for five minutes. 

Mr. JOHNSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Secretary Salazar, 

Ohio is very dependent upon the coal industry. We get about 87 

percent of our energy from coal. The industry supports more than 

30,000 direct and indirect jobs and the majority of these jobs are 

in my district in eastern and southeastern Ohio. As you know, the 

Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement is preparing a complete rewrite of current regulations regarding surface 

mining in the stream buffer zone. According to your Department’s 

own environmental impact statement, this proposed regulation 

could cost more than 20,000 coal mining and related jobs, cut coal 

mining production by 50 percent and increase the cost of electricity 

for families and small businesses. What is your justification for 

such a significant rewrite of existing regulations that would result 

in such significant job losses and jeopardize our domestic energy 

security? 

Secretary SALAZAR. I will have Deputy Secretary Hayes respond. 

Mr. HAYES. Congressman, we are looking fresh at the rule because a Court intervened and expressed concern about the rule 

that came out at the end of the prior Administration. I should say 

that the rulemaking has only started. You referenced the environmental impact. There is no draft environmental impact statement 

that is out yet. What you are referring to was a draft that was prepared by a contractor and that was not approved by the DepartVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:08 Jun 17, 2011 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00064 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 L:\DOCS\64957.TXT Hresour1 PsN: KATHY
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ment. We are very concerned and want to make sure that this rulemaking proceeds and the environmental impact statement proceeds 

with full public input. We have made no judgments about what the 

final rule will look like and we look forward to working with you 

and others to make sure that it is a good rule and it makes sense 

in coal country. 

Mr. JOHNSON. Well, I am very concerned because the 2000 rule 

that you reference followed a five-year rulemaking process supported by 5,000 plus pages of environmental analysis and 40,000 

public comments. I am just very concerned why OSM is in such a 

rush to rewrite this rule that has already codified 30 years of industry practice. 

Mr. HAYES. We are not in a rush. We are acting under Court supervision. The Court has established some deadlines for us to proceed, but we will make sure that we proceed in a deliberate way. 

Again, there is no draft environmental impact statement out yet. 

When it comes out, we will look forward to input, along with the 

rulemaking itself. 

Mr. JOHNSON. Shifting gears just a bit, I am a little bit confused, 

Mr. Secretary. You talked about the increased funding required in 

your budget submittal in order to create this robust permitting 

process, yet you have testified and my colleagues have pointed out 

the decreases in permits in previous years. Why do you need so 

much money to get back to an acceptable level of permitting? We 

were there before. Why is it different now? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Congressman Johnson, I think there is a reality that the American Public and the American Congress and I 

think all of us should take into account and that is there is a preMacondo timeframe and a post-Macondo timeframe. I think if you 

look at the 30 years before Macondo there was not the right kind 

of caution that was taken, and the right kind of inspection and 

oversight, and technology that allowed us to get into deeper and 

deeper waters essentially got ahead of our ability to deal with safety issues, environmental issues and other kinds of issues, and so 

what we want to do is to achieve a goal, which I think we can 

agree on, and that is that we want to have oil and gas production 

in the nation’s oceans, and have specified the area as the Gulf of 

Mexico as the area which is the most promising which already contributes about 30 percent of the domestic production of oil to the 

United States, but we want to do it in a way that is going to be 

safe. In order to do that, you need an agency that can do the job. 

The former MMS simply did not have the capacity to do the job. 

Mr. JOHNSON. I don’t mean to cut you off, Mr. Secretary. I can 

see that my time is about to expire. You testified, and I have heard 

other colleagues here mention it, oil is an international market, 

and according to your testimony, the United States, we have very 

little influence over the price of oil. I will submit to you that I 

think that is exactly what terrifies the American public, that we 

seem to have our hands behind our back, and this lack of permitting, this lack of going after resources that we have right here in 

America and falling prey to that philosophy is indicative of a failed 

energy policy. So, with that, I yield back my time. 

The CHAIRMAN. Time of the gentleman has expired. The gentleman from Florida, Mr. Rivera. 

62 

Mr. RIVERA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Secretary, thank you 

so much for being here today. As your know, the Everglades and 

Big Cypress in my district are national treasures, I am sure you 

would agree, and important economic resources for my state, for 

the State of Florida. Everglades restoration is a huge priority for 

me and for my entire Florida Delegation and I personally feel a tremendous responsibility to this issue because so much of the national park and the Big Cypress preserve fall within my congressional district. As we go forward, I also think it is important that 

all the stakeholders are involved in determining what prudent 

steps can be taken now and in the future, particularly with the 

current economic climate, to achieve the goal that everyone I am 

sure wants to achieve of restoring water flow in these areas. You 

have placed a great deal of emphasis on the Everglades as a special 

landscape. 

Last year you broke ground on a one mile bridge along an artery 

through the Everglades, the Tamiami Trail, as a first step to restoring water flow to Everglades National Park, and you also announced the selection of a plan for additional bridging to restore 

that water flow. I also, as you well know, represent the Miccosukee 

Tribe of Indians. I know you have recently met with them, and I 

have met with them as well. The Miccosukee Tribe in my meetings 

have raised some concerns with regards to the construction of the 

Tamiami Trail Bridge and the additional proposed bridging. They 

have told me they strongly support Everglades restoration, but 

they also have some concerns regarding the environmental soundness of the project and they are concerned that it might cause 

harm to culturally sensitive, and archeological, and sacred and religious sites, so in order to perhaps bridge some of those concerns 

or allay some of those concerns I am wondering if you could tell me 

what considerations were given to alternate plans, perhaps presented even by the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, for the bridge and 

the proposed additional bridging. What alternatives were considered? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Congressman Rivera, let me first say to you 

that I appreciate the leadership that you bring to the Everglades 

restoration project. It is a project which has received strong bipartisan support in the past, and in my view, is one of the most important ecosystem restoration projects not only in the United States, 

but literally in the entire planet as a world heritage site. Some of 

the parts of the budget that we are dealing with now, including 

Land and Water Conservation Fund, will help us get to reality of 

restoring the river of grass in the Everglades. With respect to alternatives on the Tamiami Trail, those were all looked at in a very 

extensive way through all the environmental impact analyses that 

went into the construction on the Tamiami Trail and the proposed 

additions. There have been robust conversations with the tribes to 

make sure that their input is being heard and that robust consultation with the tribes will continue. 

Mr. RIVERA. Well, I appreciate that. I know your Department has 

had meetings with them, I have as well, and I am wondering, perhaps one of the most robust ways we can encourage that communication perhaps would be communication or a meeting directly between the Chairman of the Tribe, Colley Billie, and perhaps yourVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:08 Jun 17, 2011 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00066 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 L:\DOCS\64957.TXT Hresour1 PsN: KATHY
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self. I am wondering if you would be open to a direct meeting or 

direct communication perhaps here in Washington that I could 

maybe help facilitate. Would you be open to meeting with the tribe? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Yes. 

Mr. RIVERA. Also, finally, can you tell me going forward as we 

plan for Everglades restoration in the years ahead and ensuring 

that the national park and other areas you manage are preserved, 

what do you envision, what else can be done to make sure that not 

only water flow is restored, but that this treasure is preserved for 

generations to come? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Congressman Rivera, I think that what had 

happened, frankly, until two years is that for about an 80-year 

timeframe there was literally very, no progress being made in 

terms of Everglades restoration. We have done a lot in the last two 

years and we have done it by getting the House of the Federal family in order and have invested significant resources in getting the 

Everglades to where they should be today. However, that has depended on the partnership that we have had with farmers, and 

land owners, and ranchers, and the State of Florida, and local governments, and the South Florida Water Management District, 

which has been a great partner as we have moved forward. 

Mr. RIVERA. And the tribe. 

Secretary SALAZAR. And the tribe. The most important thing that 

we can do to bring the project across the finish line in success is 

to continue that partnership that has been underway for the last 

two years. 

Mr. RIVERA. Thank you. I appreciate those remarks. I yield back, 

Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. I appreciate that. Chair would note, Mr. Secretary, that we have only two more questioners and that will coincide perfectly with your timeframe of 1:00, so the timing is everything on this. At this time, I would recognize the gentleman from 

California, Mr. Denham, for five minutes. 

Mr. DENHAM. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Mr. 

Secretary. Let me first start by thanking you. I know you have 

spent some time in the Central Valley looking at the devastation 

with the water policy we have had. Know there have been a number of questions on that and I have a number of questions as well, 

but I would like to get your full attention and detailed answers on 

it so I will submit those to you. So let me just address a couple of 

funding questions that I have concerns with. I also represent not 

only the Central Valley, but Yosemite and some of the mountain 

areas, and specifically in Tuolumne County, one of the concerns 

that we have is the cuts to the Secure Rural Schools Program. I 

guess I would be OK with the cuts if we were going to start doing 

more logging again and, you know, they would have that additional 

revenue, but absent new policy, we certainly would need some type 

of plan on keeping those schools obviously open and funded. First, 

I would ask you to address that area of cut and the phase out of 

that. I know the President’s new proposal has a phase out in it. 

Secretary SALAZAR. Congressman, my understanding is that 

within the Department of Agriculture there is an amount, I believe 

it was $328 million from testimony that I gave yesterday in the Department of Agriculture, and we will work closely with them in 

64 

terms of the Secure Rural Schools funding. It is something that I 

have been aware of and have worked with the California and Oregon Delegations on in the past, so I am aware of the issue. I don’t 

know the specifics with respect to the area that you speak about, 

but we will look into it. On your other issues, on the Central Valley 

and the water issues, I would say the Deputy Director of the Department of the Interior has probably spent more time working on 

that issue than any single other issue. It is exceedingly complex, 

but there is great possibility and great hope that if we can keep 

the water users and the other interests together, that we can make 

some major breakthroughs on the California water issues in the 

Central Valley this year. So we are very hopeful. We are working 

on it together. Just a quick comment on Yosemite. Yosemite has a 

special place in the heart of the conservation community in this 

country because it was set aside by President Lincoln right in the 

midst of the Civil War and it is what makes our country, as Ken 

Burns of Dayton Duncan would say in their movie or in their film, 

America’s best idea. So what Abraham Lincoln started in 1865 with 

Yosemite is a tradition that I hope we are able to continue working 

together in a bipartisan way for a lot of reasons, but also because 

it contributes so significantly to the economy of our country, whether it is the Everglades, or whether it is Yosemite, or whether it is 

Olympic, or Rainier, or other of our great national parks. 

Mr. DENHAM. Thank you. Thank you. Just a couple quick questions on purchasing property. One of the things that I am seeing 

now, we just finished duck season. My duck license was very expensive and now I see $25 going up. First of all, do we really need 

to buy more land right now? Are the hunters not doing a good job 

of protecting the conservation of that area? Specifically on the 

wildlands piece, I know BLM is talking about greater resources 

and benefits and being able to use properties and it seems like it 

is somewhat in conflict with wildlands. I mean, there are a number 

of policies that I am seeing move forward where we are actually 

going out and buying more property, and at the same time we have 

the President who now is putting together a new commission to sell 

property. So in a time of fiscal crisis it would seem that, you know, 

we would agree with the President’s direction to sell properties. 

The question is how do we do that? Then second, why would we 

be going out and buying more property at a time that we are going 

through today? 

Secretary SALAZAR. First, let me say that on the acquisition of 

properties, I know for a fact that hunting organizations from the 

National Riflemen’s Association to Ducks Unlimited and Trout Unlimited are strongly supportive of protecting those areas that are 

a special place for hunters. Hunting adds a huge amount to the 

economy of this country. It is a sport which I strongly support. 

When you have lands that over the last 10 years have been disappearing which have been prime hunting and wildlife habitat at 

a rate of the size of Connecticut every year, it should call us to action to invest in the protection of these lands that are special lands 

for hunting and—— 

Mr. DENHAM. Disappearing? Are they vanishing? Disappearing? 

Secretary SALAZAR. They have moved over to development in 

very significant ways. I mean, our population as it has grown and 

65 

is projected to continue to grow will continue to have these lands 

diminished, and so having a proactive conservation program in a 

partnership way that respects private property rights is something 

that we very much support, and it is the heart of the America’s 

Great Outdoors concept. It is at the heart of this budget. I said earlier one of the great examples is what the ranching community. 

These are working ranchers, fourth, fifth generation ranchers that 

took the lead creating the Flint Hills National Conservation Area 

to protect 1.1 million acres of the last remaining tallgrass prairie 

in North America. These are ranchers who said they want their 

way of life preserved in ranching. It is good for the economy of 

Kansas, and it is good for the environment. So I think we can move 

forward with that agenda. 

The CHAIRMAN. Time of the gentleman has expired. The gentleman from Florida, Mr. Southerland. 

Mr. SOUTHERLAND. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Secretary, 

thank you very much for being here today. I think you have been 

Secretary for a little over two years, that correct? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Yes, sir, that is correct. 

Mr. SOUTHERLAND. How many employees are under your direction? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Around 70,000. 

Mr. SOUTHERLAND. And your budget for 2010 was somewhere I think a little over $12 billion, correct? 

Secretary SALAZAR. That is correct. 

Mr. SOUTHERLAND. I congratulate you. That is an enormous responsibility. I mean, I am a small business owner. I can’t imagine 

having that much responsibility. I wanted to ask you, you know I 

live in Florida. We were affected. My district had eight counties on 

the Gulf. I wanted to ask you some questions regarding the Deepwater Horizon. You know, the President formed the commission on 

BP in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Did you participate in that 

report? Do you have any work or consultation responsibilities in 

that report? 

Secretary SALAZAR. I appeared before the commission, provided 

excessive testimony, along with Deputy Secretary David Hayes and 

a number of other people from the Department of the Interior. 

Mr. SOUTHERLAND. OK. So your input was included. Obviously it 

had an effect on the report that Senator Graham and Mr. Riley 

came and presented before this body about a month ago. 

Secretary SALAZAR. They were an independent commission but 

we did provide them whatever information they requested from us. 

Mr. SOUTHERLAND. They had nine findings that they presented 

before us, 400 pages, and none addressed any government’s responsibility in the exasperation of that disaster in the wake of that. I 

am just curious. Do you feel from your vantage point over 70,000 

people, $12 billion, does the government bear any responsibility 

having issued 720 violations in the wake of that disaster? Any? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Congressman Southerland, I think that the 

Deepwater Horizon was a tragedy that was brought about by a 

huge number of circumstances, including government inattention 

and government inaction. 

Mr. SOUTHERLAND. I’m curious—if I may. I am the last one here 

so time is a precious commodity. As far as a percentage, does the 

66 

government bear five percent? Ten percent? You are a smart man. 

They don’t give this position to somebody that can’t speculate a little bit. What do you think? 

Secretary SALAZAR. I would say to you that the honest answer 

that is not at all a political answer, I think it is just the fact, is 

that the former agency, MMS, simply was not given the tools by 

the Congress, nor overseen by the Executive Branch of government 

to do the job that was so critical. At this table and in this Committee several years ago, we testified about the need to have organic legislation for MMS and what you have in front of you with 

this budget is an effort to try to stand up a robust agency that can 

accomplish these very significant missions that we have assigned 

to this particular bureau. 

Mr. SOUTHERLAND. OK, but clearly, if you had the ability to issue 

720 violations and we seem to be not be able to rescind the Jones 

Act when we had offers from around the country to bring in skimming ships to help us at least contain the disaster, clearly you have 

to be a smart man. Seventy thousand people, that is mind-boggling 

to me. You have to be able to agree that the Administration, government, could have done more. I know you keep throwing it on 

Congress, but I am talking about you. You don’t get 70,000, $12 billion without having some ability to make a difference, correct? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Well, first—— 

Mr. SOUTHERLAND. That is just a yes or no. I am running out of 

time here. 

Secretary SALAZAR. Let me say we did I think a Herculean job 

in responding to the tragedy. Was it perfect? No. Was it anticipated 

and all the problems foreseen? No. Have we learned from it? I 

would hope we have learned from it. Part of the lessons learned are 

incorporated into the budget request that we have—— 

Mr. SOUTHERLAND. Can I ask you, now I am on the yellow light, 

after 720 findings, and again, that is amazing to me, have there 

been any disciplinary actions that have led to firings or dismissals 

from any of the individuals that were a part of citing those violations and issuing those citations? That is just yes or no. Anyone 

fired? 

Secretary SALAZAR. Over the last two years there have been a 

number of disciplinary actions. 

Mr. SOUTHERLAND. Anyone fired, though? 

Secretary SALAZAR. There have been people fired, people who 

have been prosecuted, people have, appropriate action has been 

taken as we have cleaned up MMS over the last two years. 

Mr. SOUTHERLAND. OK. I know when Mr. Costa was questioning 

you, you stated that you have the ability to focus like a laser beam. 

I mean, that was your words about an hour and a half ago. I would 

just encourage you, being in the position you are with 70,000 people, $12 billion, obviously a great skill set to be given that and you 

have the ability to focus like a laser beam, that at some point in 

time someone from your Administration, or you even yourself, 

would be able to say, you know what, we screwed up. I think the 

American people would appreciate—and I am not ignoring the fact 

that BP—— 

67 

The CHAIRMAN. Time of the gentleman has expired. If there is a 

question there, I would ask the Secretary to respond to that question. 

Secretary SALAZAR. I would just say there is a collective responsibility that has to be shared over what happened in the Gulf of 

Mexico. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much. I think that all of us on 

this Committee have always felt that that issue as brought up by 

the gentleman from Florida was legitimate to be discussed. Secretary Salazar, thank you very much for being here. I want to 

thank all the Members for adhering as closely as we could possibly 

do to the five-minute rule. If there are further questions from any 

Members of the Committee, Mr. Secretary, I would ask you to respond to those questions in as timely a manner as you possibly can. 

If there is no further business before the Committee, the panel is 

dismissed and the Committee stands adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 1:35 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.] 

[Additional material submitted for the record follows:] 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Benishek follows:] 

Statement of The Honorable Dan Benishek, a Representative 

in Congress from the State of Michigan 

Thank you Mr. Chairman and I thank you Mr. Secretary for coming today. 

I am new to the Committee and new to Congress. I’m looking forward to working 

with you. 

My Northern Michigan district includes three Great Lakes, Isle Royle National 

Park, large forests and my favorite place in the world—my small camp in the Ottawa National Forest. 

I am an outdoorsman and someone who truly appreciates the need to preserve our 

land for the future. However, I want to convey a message that I hope we can work 

together on in the next two years. 

People in my district want to be able to enjoy the land. They want access for 

recreation. They want to hunt, fish and ride vehicles. I am asking to work together 

to curb the abusive lawsuits that are only meant to delay the ruling process and 

prevent access. Let this committee give you the tools you need to complete your job. 

At the same time, this Committee is looking for you to take the lead in tackling 

high gas prices. The unrest in the Middle East only underscores the need to increase our domestic supply. Mr. Secretary you hold the keys to the kingdom. It’s 

time to expedite permits, open up land and start drilling. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Flores follows:] 

Statement of The Honorable Bill Flores, a Representative 

in Congress from the State of Texas 

Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding today’s important hearing and thank you 

Secretary Salazar for appearing before us today. 

Last week, I had the opportunity to hear from my constituents during four town 

halls and there was a persistent theme—what can we do to promote private sector 

job growth in our nation and reduce the uncertainty in our economy. Gasoline prices 

are on the rise, both due to declining Gulf of Mexico production and unrest in the 

Middle East. Concerns over higher energy costs slowing our economic recovery are 

also being reflected in the stock market. Despite these warnings, the Obama Administration’s actions continue to ignore these significant issues. Instead of pursuing energy independence, the Administration further restricts access to our domestic supplies by imposing billions in tax and fee increases that will raise the cost of energy 

for all consumers, damage our fragile economic recovery, cause additional job losses, 

and hurt our national security. To add to this Administration’s fiscal nonsense, the 

declining Gulf of Mexico production and uncertainty in the permitting process is 

costing the Treasury millions of dollars per day in royalty revenues. In addition, the 

lock-ups of huge areas of prime acreage for domestic energy exploration makes us 

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the only country in the world which seems to be intent on putting our own strategic 

domestic resources off limits. 

There are measures that the federal government can take to secure oil and gas 

supplies and offset rising prices. Regulators should end the slowdown in the permitting process in both the deepwater Gulf of Mexico and the shallow water Gulf of 

Mexico, and move ahead with issuing additional drilling permits. In addition, the 

lock-ups of huge areas of prime Secretarial Order 3310, issued last December, establishing the Wild Lands policy that locks up vital domestic energy sources at a time 

of much need should be reversed. We also need an ‘‘all of the above’’ view towards 

energy that uses a combination of all energy sources including traditional fuels such 

as coal, oil, and gas, as well as emission free nuclear, wind, and solar power. If the 

Administration would take these common sense steps, our economy would continue 

to recovery, hundreds of thousands of good paying American jobs would be created, 

and we would assure our children of a future of economic opportunity, energy security, and national security. 

I look forward to hearing from Secretary Salazar today and to discussing how we 

can ensure a reliable supply of American energy that will contribute to our economic 

recovery. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Tipton follows:] 

Statement of The Honorable Scott R. Tipton, a Representative 

in Congress from the State of Colorado 

Thank you Chairman Hastings for convening today’s hearing. I would like to join 

my colleagues in welcoming Secretary Salazar as we examine the budget and priorities of the Administration and the Interior Department. 

There are approximately 8,686,842 acres of land controlled by the Department of 

the Interior in the 3rd Congressional District of Colorado. It’s no surprise that the 

budget and priorities of this Department is of great concern to me and my constituents, and that the policies of the Interior Department affect our everyday lives and 

our livelihoods. The Interior Department needs to look closely at ways to trim excessive spending and to implement policies that will help rather than hinder the job 

market. As oil approaches $100 a barrel and gasoline prices are expected to go 

above $4.00 a gallon, it is absolutely imperative that the Interior Department 

prioritize domestic oil and natural gas exploration. We also need to focus on facilitating innovative technologies in oil shale development and avoid excessive regulations which discourage the exploration of this potentially massive source of domestic 

energy. Doing so is a matter of national security as well as critical source of jobs 

in my district and across the country. 

We also need to ensure that multiple use management is continued on BLM lands 

and that the designation and protection of valued wilderness areas is determined 

through local consensus and a vote of Congress, not through Administrative order. 

There are 250,949 acres of wilderness in the 3rd Congressional District and 520,000 

Wilderness Study Areas. Many of these areas are properly designated and the level 

of protection they receive is appropriate. However, with so much of my district already restricted by the wilderness designation, it is irresponsible to allow the federal government to further restrict lands by administrative fiat when doing so acts 

in derogation of the Federal Lands Management Policy Act which requires BLM 

lands to managed for multiple use and sustained yield. This was a common sense 

policy when it was developed and remains so today. The Administration’s Wild 

Lands order acts contrary to this policy and threatens jobs in Colorado’s Third Congressional District. 

It is imperative that the Department of the Interior prioritize domestic energy 

production and concentrate on job grow in Colorado and throughout the country. 

Again, Chairman Hastings, thank you for holding today’s hearing. 

Æ