Democrats are targeting a new perceived soft spot in the Trump administration’s armor by going after “sweetheart” deals with companies contracted by federal agencies.
Democratic Reps. Raul Grijalva of Arizona and Alan Lowenthal of California sent a letter Tuesday to the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management asking for responses to financial and legal questions about a contract with EnergyNet, which was contracted to manage the agency’s online oil and natural gas leasing program.
“It is notable that EnergyNet charges bidders a 1.5 percent ‘buyer premium’ on top of each bonus bid. In addition to being a windfall for EnergyNet, the premium potentially drives down the amount that companies are willing to bid, which effectively takes money that should be going to the American taxpayer and directs it to EnergyNet,” the lawmakers wrote.
Grijalva, the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee, and Lowenthal, the top Democrat on a minerals subcommittee, want the agency to give them copies of the EnergyNet contract and other documents so they can verify the terms of the deal detailed recently by the liberal think tank Center for American Progress and Outside Magazine.
“In the context of the hydraulic fracturing rule, which is intended to improve protections for the environment and public health, BLM found that an increase of 0.2 percent to the cost of a well was unjustly burdensome, but BLM has not expressed any similar concerns about this 1.5 percent buyer premium that potentially lowers taxpayer revenue,” reads the letter.
The letter follows a successful push by Democratic lawmakers to get the EPA to rescind a contract with Virginia media consulting firm Definers Corp.
Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Kamala Harris of California challenged EPA’s use of a no-bid basis in selecting the company to track stories written about the agency in the media.
Definers is a Republican opposition firm that has links to campaigns targeting such prominent Democrats as Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
“EPA’s contract with Definers risks further politicizing the agency and is another instance of EPA under your tenure becoming captured by the industry it regulates,” the senators wrote in a Dec. 19 letter to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. “At a minimum, it presents an appearance of impropriety to which you as administrator should never be a party. For the reasons that follow, you should terminate this contract immediately.”
The Democratic lawmakers cited that a $120,000 no-bid contract was awarded to the PR firm, as reported by Mother Jones and the New York Times. Pressure mounted on the agency by consumer protection advocates and environmental firms that pressed for an investigation into the contract.
Soon after the senators sent the letter, the PR company decided to end its relationship with the EPA, stating that it has become too much of a “distraction” to continue.
On the oil and gas leasing contract, Grijalva’s office said it was too early in the information collection process to consider any specific outcomes to the Democrat’s probe into EnergyNet.
Democratic aides point out that they aren’t specifically targeting one company, but the federal process that allows contractors to take advantage of the bidding process.
