Nick Snow
OGJ Washington Editor
WASHINGTON, DC, July 8 -- The ranking minority member of the US House’s Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming urged US President Barack Obama to reconsider his appointments to the special presidential commission investigating the Gulf of Mexico well blowout, rig explosion, and crude oil spill.
“Your executive order establishing the commission states members are to be selected from ‘distinguished individuals, and may include those with experience in or representing the scientific, engineering, and environmental communities, the oil and gas industry, or any other area determined by the president to be of value to the commission in carrying out its duties,’” US Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) said in a July 7 letter to Obama. “In reality, you stacked the commission with ‘yes-men’ who favor a moratorium on offshore drilling.”
He said the commission’s co-chairman, former Florida governor Bob Graham, opposed oil and gas leasing off the state’s coast in that capacity and as a US senator. The commission’s members include Natural Resources Defense Council Pres. Frances Beineke, who recently wrote that “America should halt new offshore leasing, exploratory drilling, and seismic exploration,” according to Sensenbrunner.
“There’s also a board member on the Union of Concerned Scientists, a National Geographic Society executive vice-president, and a former president and chairman of the World Wildlife Fund—all organizations renowned for their opposition to offshore drilling,” the federal lawmaker continued. “Moreover, you selected no one to represent the oil and gas industry, and the one woman with an engineering background specializes in physics and optics, fields that hardly seem relevant.”
He urged Obama to make the commission more balanced by either replacing some of its members or adding new ones who could make it more balanced. “Selecting individuals with determined positions will lead to predictable results,” Sensenbrunner maintained. “Taxpayers are funding a political rubber stamp when we need objective advice.”
Other congressional Republicans have criticized Obama’s commission member selections. US Senator John Barrasso’s (Wyo.) amendment establishing a congressional commission comprised of experts on offshore oil and gas exploration and production, health and safety, and environmental protection became part of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s federal offshore resources management reform bill on June 30. GOP members of the House Natural Resources Committee including ranking minority member Doc Hastings (Wash.) also have expressed concern over the presidential spill commission’s makeup.
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