Watching Government: The 2010 'Watchies'

Jan. 3, 2011
Let others condemn a certain beleaguered multinational oil company's chief executive for letting his guard down for a few moments and saying something he quickly regretted late last spring.

Let others condemn a certain beleaguered multinational oil company's chief executive for letting his guard down for a few moments and saying something he quickly regretted late last spring. For the past few years at this time, this column has tried to recognize, with its annual "Watchy" awards, others in and around government who have said memorable things about oil and gas that otherwise might have been overlooked.

The signature event for 2010 obviously was the Apr. 20 Macondo well accident and subsequent crude oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Several of the latest Watchy recipients won as they commented about it. Others simply-yet stunningly-went about their business as usual.

There was US Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), who wins a "Nice Try" Watchy for his May 27 suggestion that the Obama administration reconsider its decision to cancel onshore leases awarded at a December 2008 US Bureau of Land Management sale in Salt Lake City after it suspended US deepwater exploration in the gulf following the accident and spill.

"I fear the president is laying the foundation for our nation's next energy crisis, higher fuel prices, and a greater dependence on foreign oil," Hatch argued, apparently to little avail as BLM decisions in subsequent months clearly showed.

US Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) makes no secret of her opposition to offshore oil and gas activity. She nevertheless receives a "Freudian Slip" Watchy for thanking US Interior Sec. Ken Salazar during a July 20 House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing for deciding to exclude California's coastline "from oil and gas leaking...er, leasing."

Ahead of the curve

To be fair, however, Capps and Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) deserve an "Ahead of the Curve" Watchy for introducing a bill to give US President Barack Obama's independent oil spill commission subpoena power weeks before the commission actually asked for it.

Numerous witnesses offered offshore safety recommendations to several panels of government investigators. A "Hitting the Nail on the Head" Watchy goes to John Clegg, a retired chief executive of Australia's National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority, for suggesting to the US Chemical Safety Board during its Dec. 15 hearing on the Macondo well accident that producers and regulators may tend to try simply to meet requirements more than actually improve safety.

Finally, EPA, BLM, and CSB each deserve an "Across the Bough and Out the Door" Watchy for making major announcements the afternoon of Dec. 23 as nearly everyone was trying to leave for the Christmas holiday. It indicated that even an administration supposedly committed to clarity and responsiveness wasn't above using an old, but annoying, federal bureaucratic trick.

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