Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Tuesday he is prepared to scale back his controversial proposal to massively expand drilling in federal waters off the U.S. coasts.
“What we are seeing is more production onshore than offshore,” Zinke said during testimony before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, seemingly downplaying offshore oil and gas prospects. “There is no question offshore oil and gas drilling is riskier. It’s riskier for a number of reasons, one is environmentally.”
Governors and other politicians along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, worried about potential spills, have said they oppose Zinke’s plans, and some have vowed to block drilling.
At least 12 states want to be removed from the drilling plan, after he said he would exclude areas off Florida after Republican Gov. Rick Scott complained.
California and other states, meanwhile, have said they would deny needed permits for onshore services or transport.
Under the Interior Department’s draft proposal, spanning 2019 to 2024, more than 90 percent of the total acres on the Outer Continental Shelf would be made available for leasing. It proposes 47 potential offshore lease sales, the most ever over a five-year period, including 19 sales off the Alaska coast, 12 in the Gulf of Mexico, nine in the Atlantic Ocean and seven in the Pacific.
Friday night was the deadline for the public to comment on the proposal.
Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, the top Democrat on the committee, said Zinke played “political games” by saying he would block Florida’s shores from drilling, and not yet approving similar exemptions to other places opposed to his plan.
“Dramatic increases in offshore drilling pose a direct threat to the robust coastal fishing economy in my state,” Cantwell said. “You are playing political games on where to drill. The process is arbitrary and capricious to taxpayers.”
Zinke said he would take Cantwell’s complaints, and others, into consideration as Interior advances the offshore leasing process. He said it will complete another draft of the proposal, incorporating public comments, by late fall.
“I will mark down Washington as opposed to oil and gas drilling,” Zinke said. “I know where every state is, every member of Congress is, across the board. I know where people are. The state of Washington is deeply, passionately opposed to oil and gas drilling off their coast. We will have the interests of Washington reflected in [the] plan as well as Florida, the Gulf states and where there is enormous opposition. We will do that.”
He reiterated a comment made by other Interior officials that his previous declaration of Florida being “off the table” for oil and natural gas drilling does not represent official policy and is subject to review.
“This is what I did,” Zinke said. “The last administration took 94 percent [of federal offshore waters] off. I put everything on for discussion. Had I left Florida off in the beginning, it would have been arbitrary and capricious, but Florida is still in the process.”
