The e-mail message arrived the morning of May 23. Blaming “unforeseen logistical reasons,” it said US Reps. John E. Peterson (R-Pa.) and Neil Abercrombie (D-Ha.) would not hold a scheduled press conference on reintroduction of their National Environment and Energy Development (NEED) Act the next day.
It’s also possible the press conference was postponed because of so much other oil and gas activity in Congress. On May 23 alone, the House Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on HR 2337, which, to put it mildly, is controversial.
“I cannot recall a bill that has made so many organizations unhappy, including 34 fish and wildlife groups,” committee member Harry E. Brown Jr. (R-SC) observed. That afternoon, the full House passed HR 1252, which would give the Federal Trade Commission power to investigate gasoline price-gouging allegations. And in the Senate, Democratic leaders described a legislative package that bundles bills from several committees.
Lost in shuffle?
It wouldn’t be surprising if Peterson, Abercrombie, and their staffs wondered if their bill might be lost in the shuffle. One of its key provisions aims to expand natural gas production from the US Outer Continental Shelf. Conventional wisdom holds that passage of a bill late in 2006 to increase leasing in the eastern Gulf of Mexico is enough for now.
Peterson, particularly, disagrees. At every opportunity, he mentions how much of the OCS is still off-limits and how gas from that acreage could lower US prices and remove a competitive disadvantage hurting American manufacturers.
This wouldn’t be the first time Peterson defied conventional wisdom. Two years ago he gave a floor speech calling for more OCS gas leasing when many other people considered the idea futile.
He’s not alone this time. In discussions of other bills that are seemingly unrelated, talk occasionally moves back to the OCS. At the hearing on HR 2337, which primarily deals with onshore federal resource management, Brown asked five government witnesses if they thought gas could be produced safely 50 miles offshore.
Heavy reliance
Noting that his district includes coastal communities, the South Carolinian said, “I just don’t believe we can keep depending on the Gulf Coast states to continue furnishing the country with so much of its energy.”
Industry officials see continued opposition. A week earlier, at the Deloitte 2007 Energy Conference, Vouter de Vries, vice-president of finance in Shell Energy Resource Co.’s E&P Americas division, said efforts began in Congress to undo the US Minerals Management Service’s new 5-year plan within days of its announcement.
Asked if leases restricted to gas might work, De Vries replied, “It’s hard to determine whether you’re seeing oil, gas, or water when you run seismic. Virginia is apparently interested, however, and we’re encouraged because the idea is coming from a state.”
