For a while last week, it appeared that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar was considering delaying an upcoming oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico, a delay that "may threaten not just future leasing in this area of the Gulf but our entire OCS program," about a dozen Republican congressmen wrote Salazar Thursday. Sale 208, scheduled for March 18, "cannot and should not be delayed," they said.
However, Salazar has no intention of delaying the sale. "In fact, I intend to be personally in New Orleans to participate in the auction itself," he told reporters Friday.
Perhaps Salazar really planned to delay the sale until he was warned off by the congressmen, although no evidence of that has been produced. Perhaps the congressmen got wind of Salazar's alleged plan. But none of them said that.
A more credible explanation, until proven otherwise, is that the congressmen manufactured the issue and used it as an opportunity for political grandstanding.
If companies "no longer trust that the government will hold lease sales that it announces, many will no longer bid or they will reduce their bids, resulting in lower government receipts and less energy produced," they wrote Salazar.
In an accompanying news release, several of the signatories pressed Salazar to hold the sale.
Delay of this lease sale "basically tells the world that our US government refuses to allow our nation to help heal its own economic problems," said Representative Louie Gohmert, Texas. Louisiana Representative Bill Cassidy said, "Louisiana workers need this sale to go forward. Our economy, thousands of jobs and funding for critical government services depend on it."
And this, from Louisiana Representative John Fleming: "The continuous attempts to shut down Gulf Coast leasing and production will ultimately result in some of the same spikes in energy costs Americans felt this past year."
A spokeswoman for the congressmen acknowledged that they had no evidence or information to indicate that Salazar actually considered delaying the sale. Instead, she cited, as the congressmen did in their letter, Salazar's decisions to withdraw from leasing, pending further review, areas in an onshore sale in Utah that are adjacent to national parks or monuments; to extend for six months the comment period for a new 5-year OCS leasing program proposed by the outgoing Bush administration; and to delay a new round of oil shale research, demonstration and development projects.
The department "has already established a clear track record of opposing oil and gas development in our country." according to the letter. Actually, the decisions to review the Bush administration's initiatives established nothing of the sort. But that unwarranted conclusion apparently was the sole basis for the congressmens' warnings about the dire consequences of delaying an offshore lease sale the department had no intention of delaying.
When Sale 208 is held, perhaps the congressmen will take credit for the fact that Salazar went ahead with it. That wouldn't be honest, but the congressmen have already established the precedent.
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