House Democrats accused the Trump administration Thursday of favoring the oil and gas industry during the government shutdown, allowing fossil fuel priorities to continue unimpeded and blocking public input in a way that might violate federal law.
“At time when the shutdown is imposing pain on Americans across all walks of life, it is utterly immoral that the Trump administration treats one group of friendly businesses — the fossil fuel industry — as more valuable and deserving than all others,” Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Calif., said at a forum hosted by Democrats of the House Natural Resources Committee. “The oil and gas industry has remained unscathed.”
The Interior Department has acknowledged it has continued with certain functions involving fossil fuel development on public lands during the government shutdown, which started Dec. 22 and is the longest in U.S. history.
Interior’s Bureau of Land Management is processing permit applications for oil and gas drilling on federal land, and in existing offshore areas where energy development is allowed in the Gulf of Mexico, using carryover funds and user fees.
Kathleen Sgamma, president of Western Energy Alliance, said Thursday that prior-approved production of oil and natural gas on public lands has continued during the shutdown. She said BLM has also been approving a “limited number” of already-submitted permits that were close to approval before the shutdown.
“Just because the government is shut down doesn’t mean private-sector economic activity grinds to a halt,” said Sgamma, whose group represents oil and gas companies operating on federal lands.
Interior employees also continue to work on finalizing a massive offshore oil and gas drilling plan during the shutdown, and others are available on an on-call basis, according to a contingency plan posted online by the agency’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
The agency released its draft proposal in March to permit oil and gas drilling in nearly all federal waters, and industry officials are eager to see whether Interior shrinks the plan after bipartisan complaints from coastal governors worried about the possibility that it could increase spills or hurt tourism.
Interior is also proceeding with oil development in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, known as ANWR. It recently postponed public meetings to discuss an environmental impact analysis released by the agency. But it kept in place a Feb. 11 deadline for public comments despite uncertainty over when the shutdown will end.
Environmental groups and Democrats seized on that decision as showing how the Trump administration is rushing the leasing process faster than the timeline Congress outlined when it voted in 2017 to allow drilling in the refuge, which is inhabited by animals such as polar bears, caribou, and arctic foxes.
“We are focused on finding ways to prioritize those things critical to the president’s agenda and the business of the American people,” Joe Balash, Interior assistant secretary for land and minerals management, told the Washington Examiner in an interview earlier this month.
Balash added Interior may extend comment deadlines if the shutdown persists.
But Democrats, along with representatives of supportive environmental and conservation groups testifying at Thursday’s forum, said the Interior Department’s processing of permits during the shutdown likely violates the National Environmental Policy Act and Federal Land Policy and Management Act, since the public can’t view or provide feedback on new permits or environmental reviews.
“It is unclear if BLM is fully abiding by these requirements, but agency actions during the shutdown raise a number of legal concerns that need to be examined,” Lowenthal said.
A federal court has already blocked part of Interior’s ongoing agenda, ruling Friday the agency cannot process seismic testing permits for offshore oil drilling during the government shutdown.
House Democrats and environmentalists also accuse Interior of “sidelining” clean energy development on federal water and lands during the shutdown.
For example, three public hearings have been postponed for a planned project to build an offshore wind farm off Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.
The Trump administration has cited the Vineyard Wind project, which could power more than 400,000 homes, and others planned for the Northeast as key evidence that it is not neglecting renewables as part of its “energy dominance” agenda.
“We are seeing a magnifying glass exposing the energy policy of this administration for what it is,” Franz Matzner, director of federal affairs at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said at the forum hosted by House Democrats. “They are not really interested in energy. They are interested in serving the oil and gas industry despite the climate crisis.”
Interior spokeswoman Faith Vander Voort defended the agency’s actions during the shutdown, saying it is not favoring oil and gas, but rather keeping as many functions operational as possible.
“Interior is working on oil and gas permit processing and so much more during the partial lapse,” Vander Voort told the Washington Examiner in response to questions raised at the Thursday forum. “To say that we are playing favorites is fake news.”
Vander Voort said nearly 200 Bureau of Indian Education schools have remained open during the shutdown. She said Interior is ensuring thousands of retired miners are receiving their health insurance benefits on time. National parks and refuges remain open, although critics say they aren’t appropriately staffed, exposing them to looting and creating safety hazards.
