SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES
1334 Longworth House Office Building
Thursday, March 8, 2012
9:30 a.m.

• Press Release - Gulf Locals and Energy Experts Express Concern Over Decreased Gulf of Mexico Offshore Drilling Activity on Jobs, Economy (3/8/2012)

OVERSIGHT HEARING ON:

• "Effect of the President’s FY 2013 Budget and Legislative Proposals for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) on Private Sector Job Creation, Domestic Energy Production, Safety and Deficit Reduction"

OPENING STATEMENT:

The Honorable Doug Lamborn
Chairman

WITNESSES AND TESTIMONY:

Panel I

Tommy Beaudreau
Director
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

James Watson
Director
Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement

Panel II

Brady L. Como
Executive Vice President
Delmar Systems, Inc.
(Truth in Testimony Form)

Jim Adams
President & CEO
Offshore Marine Service Association
(Truth in Testimony Form)

Michael Conathan
Director of Ocean Policy
Center for American Progress
(Truth in Testimony Form)

BACKGROUND:

This hearing will focus on the spending priorities outlined in the President's Fiscal Year 2013 budget for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) and how their projected activities will impact the safe and efficient development of both oil and gas and renewable energy on our nation's Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). While energy production surges forward on state and private lands, lands that belong to the American people are being held back by the Obama Administration. Under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, both BOEM and BSEE are responsible for managing our nation's offshore resources in order to address the needs of the American people. However, in these trying economic times, the nation has seen policies from the Administration that hold back vast new areas from potential leasing and slow walk the plan approval and permitting processes. This hearing will provide Members will an opportunity to ensure that BOEM and BSEE are held accountable for the funding requests they have made and that this funding is allocated in such a way that address several of the issues that Committee Members have raised over the past months, such as the pace of plan approvals and permitting and the lack of new areas for future leasing.