US House Natural Resources Committee members found plenty on which to disagree as they began 2 days of hearings on Chairman Nick J. Rahall's (D-W.Va.) federal minerals management reform bill on Sept 16. They probably would have agreed with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who was there to testify, that Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) was the most passionate during his allotted 5 min for questions.
Bishop had a lot on his mind. He started with questions about contacts between the National Parks Service and the National Parks and Conservation Association. He reiterated his criticism of Salazar's Feb. 6 order to cancel 77 oil and gas leases in eastern Utah that the US Bureau of Land Management auctioned in December.
Then he asked Salazar to turn around so he could see a man and a woman standing together near the press table. Jeremy and Amber Harrison had come from Vernal, Utah, to present 150 "human impact statements" about the lease cancellations to Deputy Interior Secretary David J. Hayes the day before, Bishop explained.
He said Hayes' office notified them that the appointment had been cancelled and that the DOI official would not be able to see them at all that week. So Bishop brought them to the hearing.
'They're individuals'
"These aren't oil and gas producers or special interest groups. They are individuals who were directly affected by your decision," he told Salazar.
"What happened to those 77 lease parcels you're so passionate about is that the [US Bureau of Land Management] did not conduct proper consultations about them. Those are taking place now, and several of them may be offered in the future," the secretary responded.
But he also essentially apologized to the Harrisons. "Periodically, the federal government acts without considering the trouble individuals like them take to express their views in person," he said during the hearing. He met with the couple in the hallway afterward and told them they could meet with someone at DOI that afternoon.
Downturn's cause
OGJ also spoke with the Harrisons, who own and operate an oil hauling truck. They said unlike previous downturns that had been caused by companies canceling major projects, this one occurred because of an official's decision in Washington.
Salazar's move came after a consultant completed an extraction industry impact study for Uintah County in November 2008 to attract more oil field service firms, Amber Harrison said. "As soon as his decision was publicized, companies started to pull out instead," she noted.
Unemployment in the county has climbed to 8% now from around 1% a year ago, she added.
Salazar kept his word. The Harrisons met that afternoon with Hayes and BLM Director Robert V. Abbey. "It went well. It was a little easier to get our points across to Mr. Hayes one-on-one" and Abbey seemed very willing to listen, Mrs. Harrison told OGJ by telephone on Sept 21.
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