Bill Cassidy Grills Deb Haaland About Lease Sales

7 months ago

At yesterday's Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) questioned Interior Secretary Deb Haaland about lease sales, and she had to punt the questions to her Deputy.

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Transcript

00:00Madam Secretary, I'm from Louisiana. You're going to guess what I'm going to

00:03be interested in. Is there going to be, just a plain question, will the Department of

00:09Interior hold at least three lease sales in the next five years? Yes, Senator. So 2024

00:19is the first year without a lease sale since 1965. I'm worried that lease sale

00:26262 might slip till the end of 2025. DOI must complete several reviews and

00:33planning steps prior to the lease being issued. I'm told it has hardly begun the

00:37process. So given that the Department of Interior has not issued the notice of

00:42intent for lease sale 262, when is the earliest by which the agency can hold

00:47the lease sale? Senator, that review is underway and I promise you we

00:54will get back to you. The lease you refer to is in our five-year plan and

01:01the law directs the process. I gather that, but we're now like almost

01:07halfway through 2024 and I'm told the necessary steps prior to that lease sale

01:13have not hardly begun. So how long does that process typically take

01:19to be completed? Senator, with your permission, I would pass this question

01:25to our Acting Deputy Secretary. Thank you, Madam Secretary, and thank you, Senator.

01:32And I just want to reaffirm what the Secretary said, that the first steps are

01:35underway. With regard to your timing question, it typically takes

01:40approximately 18 months, I think at a minimum we would say, for our folks to do

01:45diligent review. So again, I've been told that it's hardly started and so 18 months

01:50puts us almost into 2026. And you said at least suggesting that it

01:55often goes further. So it looks like we might miss a lease sale in 2024 and a

02:02lease sale in 2025. That's how I'm gathering this answer. Well, Senator,

02:08with respect, I would say that we're working diligently in the process. Okay.

02:13Okay, so how does your five-year offshore wind leasing schedule with 12

02:18potential offshore wind energy lease sales comply with the law? Because under

02:24existing statute, there should be a sequence and as Secretary you cannot

02:28issue a lease for offshore wind unless there's been an oil and gas offshore

02:32lease of more than 60 million acres within the preceding year. Thank you.

02:40Thank you, Senator. We're confident that we can achieve our clean energy goals

02:46while complying with the IRA. But will the lease sale for wind occur before

02:552026? The planned OCS lease sales would meet IRA requirements if conducted and

03:01allow us to issue offshore wind leases. We'll comply with the law. So that

03:06means what I'm telling what I'm hearing that if you will not be completing even

03:12completing the necessary preliminary steps for the oil lease sale before 2026

03:18or best the end of 2025 that there will not be a wind lease sale offshore until

03:232026. Senator, I want to assure you that we will comply with the law. Yeah, I found

03:29though the lawyers figure out what they want it to be and then they work

03:32backwards and I've also found this administration has played fast and loose

03:35with the law. They decide what they want to do and they do it and they say sue me.

03:39And so if I'm a little skeptical this this administration's practice. So what

03:45specifically sales are you using to allow for the four lease sales plan for

03:512024? For example, what was the date and the acreage of those lease sales? With

03:56all due respect, Senator, I can pass that to our Acting Deputy Secretary as well.

04:01Thank you, Madam Secretary and Senator. We held a lease sale in the Gulf of

04:05Mexico in December 2023 and I don't I honestly don't recollect the acreage I

04:11apologize but it was over 60 million I'm confident. You're confident? Will you

04:15confirm that? Happy to confirm that back to you for the record. Thank you, I

04:19appreciate that. Now on carbon sequestration, Secretary, your testimony

04:24mentions a forthcoming rulemaking by Bohm and Bessie on offshore carbon

04:29sequestration and so given Louisiana's proximity to the Gulf and our new class

04:34six well primacy, of course I'm interested, when do you anticipate the

04:38rule to be proposed? Senator, I don't have an estimate of when it will be

04:44completed but we are working on it. We recognize that it's late. Creating a new

04:49regulatory program for a new technology, it's a very technical and complex. But

04:54just in my remaining time, ballpark. Two months, six months, 12 months, 18 months. I

05:00couldn't, I actually I couldn't say but I will go back to the office and find out

05:04where they are on it and we're happy to give you a status update. Thank you, your

05:09office. Thank you. Senator Hawley. Thank you Mr. Chairman. Secretary Holland, do you

Bill Cassidy Grills Deb Haaland About Lease Sales

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