When Ken Salazar took the reins at Interior nine months ago, it was apparent the “new sheriff,” as he was calling himself, had a big job ahead of him in cleaning up a department plagued by scandal and mismanagement.
In recent weeks, the magnitude of the work has come into focus, and so too has Salazar’s resolve in taking on the department’s entrenched practices and culture.
Salazar’s recent announcement that he would end a flawed oil and gas royalty program is evidence of his commitment to improving the department. But a recent congressional probe that said inappropriate fast- tracking of oil and gas permitting shortchanged environmental oversight also shows the breadth of the agency’s troubles.
It may seem that Salazar is playing a game of bureaucratic Whac-A- Mole, taking down one problem only to have another pop up. But if Salazar sticks with reform efforts, he’ll get the department straightened out.
We were glad to hear Salazar tell Congress earlier this month that he would end the Minerals Management Service’s controversial “royalty-in-kind” program.
Through the program, companies may pay the government royalties in oil and gas rather than in cash, which then allows the government to sell the commodities.
The program, based in Lakewood, has been under-collecting royalties by millions of dollars.
The Minerals Management Service’s Lakewood office also was the epicenter of a scandal involving 19 federal employees who oversaw multibillion-dollar contracts with energy companies. The federal employees improperly took gifts from the companies, engaged in sexual liaisons with energy company officials and did drugs with them.
“Clearly, the Department’s energy leasing and royalty programs have not been working as they should and the American people have not been receiving the full benefits from these valuable assets,” Salazar told the House Natural Resources Committee earlier this month.
He also described plans for developing a comprehensive energy strategy on the nation’s public lands and the outer continental shelf. Such a blueprint is an important part of re- calibrating the nation’s energy policies and we look forward to hearing more about it.
On the same day Salazar appeared before Congress to address the royalty-in-kind program, the Government Accountability Office issued a report outlining the misuse of policy that allows fast-tracking of drilling permits.
The report said the federal Bureau of Land Management did not follow law or policy in issuing thousands of exclusions that let energy companies drill without environmental impact studies. The BLM reviewed the report issued by the watchdog agency and agreed to the changes suggested.
Salazar has lofty ambitions for his department. When he visited the Denver Post editorial board in January, he said a new energy policy would be Interior’s “signature issue.”
The first step, however, is getting Interior’s house in order so that Salazar’s department has the credibility and trust necessary to propose such sweeping change. It seems as though the former senator from Colorado is making progress, though it’s sure to be a difficult road ahead.
