It was Washington drama as you might imagine it: A powerful newspaper exposes a cabinet secretary's "secret agenda" on the morning he testifies before Congress.
On the surface, that happened last week when Interior Sec. Manuel Lujan explained his offshore leasing goals to a House appropriations subcommittee. Congressmen grilled him about a front-page New York Times story on Interior's changing offshore leasing goals.
In reality, the story was more show than substance-and old news at that. Lujan's changing leasing policies may have been news to the New York Times and the congressmen, but Oil & Gas Journal has been reporting them for months.
THE POLICY CHANGES
Lujan outlined three policy changes he has been "floating":
- The next 5 year leasing plan will have fewer sales, offer fewer leases, and avoid confrontations with environmentalists.
- Interior is willing to give coastal towns a share of the federal government's offshore oil and gas revenues.
- Interior will help states buy back leases that oil companies hold in areas where environmental objections to drilling have been raised.
Lujan said more must be done to resolve industry environmental conflicts over leasing, which has Interior caught in the middle.
He noted the federal government currently shares half of its onshore oil and gas revenues with the states but not revenues from fields more than 6 miles offshore.
When coastal communities are affected by offshore development the government should share a percentage of revenues, perhaps 50%, with the city, Lujan said. "Those cities have additional expenses, and they're entitled."
Lujan said that's not a scheme to bribe coastal communities to accept offshore drilling. A press aide elaborated: "We are not going to a community where we have not been able to lease and wave a bundle of money before them."
Lujan said Interior can't break faith with oil companies and revoke leases already awarded but could help states negotiate to buy them from oil companies to prevent development. Interior is willing to ask Congress to appropriate some money for that purpose.
Lujan repeatedly said he does not know what President Bush will decide on controversial lease sales proposed off Florida and California.
At the end of a recent fishing vacation in the Florida Everglades, Bush said environmentalists will not be "too disappointed" with his decision. Lujan took that to mean Bush won't allow drilling in the Gulf of Mexico off South Florida.
Lujan said "A new wind is blowing. You will see in the administration's actions of the next few weeks there is a new sensitivity to environmental concerns. This administration is prepared to say there are certain areas that should not be drilled."
JUST ONE COPY
Perhaps Lujan's most interesting disclosure was that the federal task force that advised Bush on the California and Florida lease sales prepared only one copy of its report-the copy they gave Bush.
Lujan explained that was his doing. He didn't want copies of the study leaked before Bush made his decision.
It took the task force a year to prepare that report, so one can only hope Bush doesn't misplace it.
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