Energy Secretary nominee Federico Peña breezed through a recent 4-hr confirmation hearing and is expected to be approved by the Senate energy committee and confirmed by the full Senate.
Peña's ordeal before the senators was typically artificial. A few days before the hearing, as is customary, he had met with each of the senators on the panel in their offices to hear their concerns about the Energy Department's operations and projects.
Those meetings served as a dress rehearsal for both sides. In the public forum, the senators asked the same questions they had asked in private, to get on the record as standing up for the projects and issues of concern to their states. Peña used the intervening time to polish his answers for the senators.
Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alas.), committee chairman, showed his growing awareness of the importance of the television sound bite. He reminded Peña of the nation's growing dependence on foreign oil, and suggested Peña was "here today to interview for the position of captain of the Titanic."
Sen. Dale Bumpers (D-Ark.) said publicly what has been known privately. He said Peña, who was Transportation Secretary in the first Clinton Administration, "didn't ask for the (Energy) job and tried to beg off from taking it."
Energy strategy
Peña's testimony and answers were crafted to offend the least number of people.
He spoke of the need to develop an energy strategy that increases domestic energy production through smarter regulation and technological advances. He said the strategy should improve production economics and reduce environmental effects of both oil and gas development.
He said, "We must try to find additional ways to support (domestic) production as much as we can do it."
He said the U.S. should expand utilization of natural gas, use all energy more efficiently, and diversify its supply options, such as from the Western Hemisphere, Central Asia, and the Caspian Sea.
Questions and answers
Most of the hearing, appropriately, focused on nuclear cleanup and waste storage issues. Most of DOE's budget and effort is spent on nuclear energy.
Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.) told Peña one of his toughest challenges will be to keep marginal wells in production. Peña replied, "I don't have the answer today on how we will address it, but it will be a priority."
Nickles also stressed the need for allowing oil firms to expense IDCs (intangible drilling costs), but Peña replied he was not familiar with the term.
Senators were not dismayed at Peña's lack of familiarity with energy issues.
Murkowski said, "We can accept that you are not an energy expert" but added that DOE must have an Energy Secretary who is "a strong manager and forceful advocate."
Bumpers said,"You don't have to know how to drill an oil well or refine gasoline to be a good secretary. Too much has been made of your (lack of) experience in the energy field. Few of your predecessors were energy experts when they were nominated. And a lot of them weren't experts when they left."
Most of Peña 's predecessors also weren't politicians, but he is a former Denver mayor and Colorado legislator. His political skills were evident in his confirmation hearing and clearly will help him in his new job.
Copyright 1997 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
