Sen. Joe Manchin announced his opposition to President Joe Biden’s pick for a top role at the Interior Department, accusing Laura Daniel-Davis of prioritizing politics over the nation’s energy security needs.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources chairman said he will not advance the nomination of Daniel-Davis to be assistant secretary of the Department of Interior. It’s the latest development in a series of public spats between Manchin and the Biden administration, which he’s accused of advancing a dangerous climate change agenda.
MANCHIN LASHES OUT AT BIDEN OVER DELAYED OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS LEASING PLAN
Manchin made the announcement in a Houston Chronicle op-ed published Friday ahead of his visit to CERAWeek by S&P Global, a large annual energy conference in Houston that’s well attended by industry players from around the world.
“Even though I supported her in the past, I cannot, in good conscience, support her or anyone else who will play partisan politics and agree with this misguided and dangerous manipulation of the law,” Manchin said.
Manchin referred specifically to the revelation that Interior weighed but declined an alternative sale option in its recent offshore oil and gas lease sale in Alaska’s Cook Inlet that would have charged lower royalties on leased parcels.
The lower royalty rate would “be expected to incentivize additional blocks receiving bids, increase bonus bids, and increase the chances of a discovery being developed,” according to an internal memo accidentally made public. That outcome would result in greater government revenues and greater energy security, it said.
“Nevertheless, because of the serious challenges facing the Nation from climate change and the impact of [greenhouse gases] from fossil fuels, [the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management] is not recommending this option since it would not include an appropriate surcharge to account for those impacts,” the memo said.
The department went with a higher royalty option, with Daniel-Davis’s approval. She currently serves as principal deputy assistant secretary for Land and Minerals Management at the department.
Collin O’Mara, the president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, said the organization is disappointed about the fate of Daniel-Davis’s nomination and that the nation’s natural resources “will be worse off for it.”
“Her integrity is unquestionable and she demonstrated in multiple confirmation hearings that she has the experience and temperament to ensure our lands, waters, and resources are managed for the benefit of all users,” O’Mara said.
Daniel-Davis was formerly chief of policy and advocacy for NWF.
Biden entered office seeking to put restrictions on new oil and gas leasing as part of his climate change agenda and placed a pause on all new leasing during his first week in office, but that move was blocked by a federal court.
The Inflation Reduction Act, Democrats’ energy and healthcare spending bill for which Manchin was the key vote, ordered Interior to carry out three offshore lease sales, including the Cook Inlet sale.
It also authorized Interior to charge higher royalties on oil and gas leases, something the Biden administration and others seeking to crack down on climate change supported as providing a fairer return to taxpayers.
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The Cook Inlet lease sale received meager interest, and the department awarded only a single leasing block out of hundreds offered.
Manchin’s frustrations at the administration extend beyond leasing to its implementation of the consumer clean vehicle credit, which was rewritten by the Inflation Reduction Act.
The Treasury Department missed its deadline at the beginning of the year to issue guidance for new domestic sourcing requirements that vehicles must meet in order to be eligible for the max $7,500 credit.
Those requirements, which were another Manchin priority, are not being enforced.
“The Biden administration must begin to implement the IRA that was passed, not the law they wanted but did not get,” Manchin said in his new op-ed.
Treasury plans to issue guidance for the vehicle credit by the end of this month.
