See Arctic Imperative Summit Agenda: June 19-21, Alyeska Resort, Anchorage

Comment.  Yesterday (Scroll down) we reported on the creation Monday of a Coastal Governors Coalition preparing to meet the various challenges posed by federal government Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) policy.  Today, we offer readers this letter sent yesterday by Michael Bromwich (NGP Photo), Director of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) to the four governors: Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal, Rick Perry of Texas, Haley Barbour of Mississippi and Alaska’s Sean Parnell.  The letter stresses how much input the states already have in the federal decision making process but offers an olive branch to the new ‘coalition’ and suggests a meeting, "as early as next week–to discuss responsible energy development on the OCS."  After the many state protests and lawsuits against ‘arbitrary and capricious’ federal overreach (e.g. P.17), one expects the new coalition to eagerly accept the invitation, though perhaps not as early as next week.  If the Administration is motivated by the 2012 election — or other reasons, including the public interest — to improve the economy and recognizes that increased exploration and development of domestic energy is the keystone of economic recovery, perhaps a diminishing of federal overreach is possible, at least for awhile.   Congratulations, Governors, for working together to improve BOEMRE’s (and sister agencies’) policies, the failures of which are legion and well documented herein.    -dh   (Note to BOEMRE’s boss, Secretary Ken Salazar {NGP Photo}:  If you really want to operate within the law, avoid federal overreach into state sovereignty, improve the economy, create jobs, reverse the outflow of wealth to oil exporting nations, stimulate American manufacturing, rejuvenate small business entrepreneurship and inflate the service sector (in an environmentally responsible way), work with the President to: 

  • Stop EPA’s awkward and illogical assaults on NPR-A and Chukchi-Beaufort Sea OCS exploration.
  • Instruct USFWS to support proper implementation of ANWR 1002 area exploration and development.
  • Inhibit NOAA’s irresponsible use of the ESA as a weapon against human activity with insufficient evidence of harm to species.
  • Respect the good faith purchasers of BOEMRE lease sale tracts and responsibly process permits of lessees in a timely way.
  • Open leasing to OCS tracts in all reasonable, prospective areas that have support of adjacent governors and provide those areas with a share of OCS rent, royalty and bonus revenues to help them accommodate the increased economic activity.
  • Rein in BLM’s job-killing Wild Lands overreach and threat to multiple use policy.
  • Reverse the President’s initiative through CEQ to establish a new, job-killing Ocean Policy Council.  This thuggish assault on water and even land-based recreation, employment and commerce will implement a policy of zoning the oceans and waterways of America against human activity–on top of a matrix of already-stringent environmental protections .

All this said, if what we really have here is a "failure to communicate" or an "attitude" problem or a philosophical impasse, we will be vigilant for signs of federal officials offering grudging, passive-aggressive courtesy while obstruction of domestic energy development continues in more subtle, albeit still effective ways.  

But in good faith, we shall also be vigilant for signs of genuine acts to improve our national wellbeing through execution of more reasonable federal natural resource policies  

Meanwhile, there is good news in Canada, as the Calgary Herald’s Deborah Yedlin observes that Stephen Harper’s election signals good relations with the "oilpatch".   "As good a result as we could hope for because a Liberal/NDP alliance would have likely meant more taxes and environmental rules," said a longtime energy insider, expressing hope that there would also be changes on the regulatory front to avoid another failed process such as what befell the Mackenzie Valley pipeline.   -dh