KEY ENERGY POSTS FILLED WITH CONFIRMATION OF O'LEARY, BABBIT, BROWNER

Post vital to the petroleum industry are being filled in President Clinton's administration.

The Senate has confirmed the nominations of Hazel Rollins O'Leary sd U.S. secretary of Energy, Bruce Babbitt as secretary of Interior, and Carol Browner as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

All have been sworn into office.

O'LEARY'S VIEWS

At her confirmation hearing, O'Leary said she will oppose increased energy taxes but voiced doubt they will be proposed this year. "if any tax is to be imposed, there must be mitigating support," she said.

O'Leary 55, was administrator of DOE's Economic Regulatory Administration and most recently was executive vice-president of corporate affairs with Northern States Power Co., Minneapolis.

"I bring to the Energy Department two decades of experience," she said. "I have been a regulator, and I have been regulated. I have learned first hand how much efficiency and conservation efforts can reduce reliance on foreign oil. I have also learned that heavy handed government price regulation does not work.

"In the private sector, I have learned the importance of a strong and resilient energy policy, one that protects the environment but which also maximizes the nation's demand and supply side options and supports and sustains economic growth."

O'Leary said the U.S. needs to reduce its oil import dependence, increase natural gas use, and increase use of renewable energy.

"For too long, energy policy has been made in vacuum. The health and quality of our environment and economic performance are linked to our energy policy decisions.

"That is why we will develop a strategy to integrate all three - energy policy, environmental policy, and economic policy. The outcome of this effort should be to maximize energy options available to the nation while protecting the environment and ensuring economic growth."

O'Leary said a key goal for DOE will be to assist the modernization of the Russian oil industry as a means to stabilize that country's economy.

She termed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Order 636 "innovative, complex, and extremely important to the natural gas industry, to consumers, and to national energy policy. Consequently, any unwarranted disruption in its implementation would be costly to all parties."

But she said she might offer FERC "policy guidance" on whether consumers or pipelines should bear further transition costs under Order 636.

O'Leary said the Clinton administration supports the exemption of oil and gas productions wastes under the Resources Conservation and Recovery Act and supports offshore drilling except in "new, environmentally sensitive areas."

IT'S UP TO CONGRESS

Babbit, 54, a former Arizona governor and most recently chairman of the League of Conservation Voters, disclosed few of his views toward oil and gas production.

He said, "the Interior Department is at the center of some of the most important natural resource decisions this nation will make during the coming decades. In the final analysis, these decisions must be shaped and their direction must be set by Congress."

Sen. Malcolm Wallop (R-Wyo.) complained that Babbitt's environmental advocacy role with the League of Conservation Voters indicates he will not balance the Interior secretary's obligations to use and protect natural resources.

While babbitt admitted he has made some "strong advocacy statements" for the environment, he said he is capable of "taking off one hat and reaching to put on another hat called public service."

babbitt said he was not aware of a new Minerals Management Service order that reduces royalty rates for deepwater Gulf of Mexico production but said such an approach coincides with the new administration's push for lower oil imports and more gas production.

Industry lobbyists fear Clinton's naming of Browner to the EPA post could mark a return to hard-line regulation. But she told the president's economic summit last December she favors streamlined environmental permitting and avoidance of conflict through improved communications (OGJ, Dec. 31, 1992, p. 29).