Washington —
The ongoing partial shutdown of the federal government has
indefinitely delayed the Trump administration's release of a proposed
plan for offshore oil and natural gas leasing sales from 2019 through
2024, industry sources familiar with the plans said Wednesday.
The plan, which was expected to call for sales in US Atlantic,
Arctic and Gulf of Mexico waters, was initially proposed in draft form
by the Interior Department nearly a year ago. It initially included 47
proposed lease sales in nearly all federal waters.
Sources said that the release of the formal proposed plan, expected
to be unveiled in mid-January, has been pushed back. The length of the
delay depends on the length of the shutdown, which entered its 12th day
on Wednesday. Nine federal departments, including Interior, are affected
by the shutdown.
Sources said the announcement of the plan could be further
complicated by the resignation of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who
officially left the position Wednesday. David Bernhardt, a deputy
secretary at Interior, will be acting secretary. President Donald Trump
has yet to name Zinke's replacement.
An offshore oil and gas lease sale planned for March, which is
scheduled to offer 78 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico, is unlikely
to be affected by the shutdown, sources said.
That March sale is part of the 2017-2022 offshore leasing plan,
finalized during the Obama administration. That plan includes 11 lease
sales, including 10 in the Gulf and one in Cook Inlet offshore Alaska.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the agency within Interior
developing the offshore plan, has 84 of its 558 employees available
during the shutdown to assist with permitting operations, administrative
services or emergency response, according to a contingency plan posted
on Interior's website. Of these 84 employees, 76 will be available in an
"on-call basis" to help with permitting, the agency said.
BOEM "will not process or review new exploration and development
plans, but will process and review certain revised plans if it is
related to the ongoing permitting work performed by the Bureau of Safety
and Environmental Enforcement," the plan said.
Roughly half of BSEE's 804 employees remain on the job during the
shutdown to oversee offshore permitting and safety, with their salaries
paid through "non-lapsing funds," Interior said in its plan.
"Should an extended shutdown occur, exhausting current funding
sources, all of the exempt personnel would be designated as excepted as
they are essential for life and safety," Interior said.
Sources said that an Interior rule to revise offshore safety rules
developed during the Obama administration in response to the Deepwater
Horizon disaster in 2010 is unlikely to be impacted by the shutdown
since it is already under review at the White House. That rule, known
formally as Revisions to the Blowout Preventer Systems and Well Control
Rule, was sent to the White House's Office of Management and Budget on
December 13. OMB is not directly affected by the partial shutdown, which
began on December 21.
-- Brian Scheid, brian.scheid@spglobal.com
-- Edited by Annie Siebert, newsdesk@spglobal.com
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