[Senate Hearing 117-299]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                         S. Hrg. 117-299

                   THE PRESIDENT'S BUDGET REQUEST FOR
                   THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
                          FOR FISCAL YEAR 2023

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

                              COMMITTEE ON
                      ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             SECOND SESSION

                               __________

                              MAY 19, 2022

                               __________


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               COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES

                JOE MANCHIN III, West Virginia, Chairman
RON WYDEN, Oregon                    JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming
MARIA CANTWELL, Washington           JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho
BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont             MIKE LEE, Utah
MARTIN HEINRICH, New Mexico          STEVE DAINES, Montana
MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii              LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska
ANGUS S. KING, JR., Maine            JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota
CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada       JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma
MARK KELLY, Arizona                  BILL CASSIDY, Louisiana
JOHN W. HICKENLOOPER, Colorado       CINDY HYDE-SMITH, Mississippi
                                     ROGER MARSHALL, Kansas

                      Renae Black, Staff Director
                      Sam E. Fowler, Chief Counsel
                     David Brooks, General Counsel
             Richard M. Russell, Republican Staff Director
              Matthew H. Leggett, Republican Chief Counsel
        John Tanner, Republican Deputy Staff Director for Lands
                           
                           
                           C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              

                           OPENING STATEMENTS

                                                                   Page
Manchin III, Hon. Joe, Chairman and a U.S. Senator from West 
  Virginia.......................................................     1
Barrasso, Hon. John, Ranking Member and a U.S. Senator from 
  Wyoming........................................................     5

                                WITNESS

Haaland, Hon. Deb, Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior....     7

          ALPHABETICAL LISTING AND APPENDIX MATERIAL SUBMITTED

Barrasso, Hon. John:
    Opening Statement............................................     5
    Chart entitled ``Flaring Intensity of Oil Production: 2021''.    69
Cantwell, Hon. Maria:
    Chart entitled ``Significant Wildland Fire Potentital 
      Outlook, August 2022''.....................................    41
    U.S. Drought Monitor map of the State Washington, May 10, 
      2022.......................................................    43
Cassidy, Hon. Bill:
    Chart depicting Administration actions relating to U.S. 
      energy.....................................................    46
    Letter from the Governors of Alaska, Mississippi, Louisiana, 
      Alabama, and Texas addressed to President Biden, dated 
      April 20, 2022.............................................    48
    Chart depicting U.S. requests to other countries to increase 
      oil production.............................................    51
Haaland, Hon. Deb:
    Opening Statement............................................     7
    Written Testimony............................................     9
    Responses to Questions for the Record........................    77
Hyde-Smith, Hon. Cindy:
    Chart entitled ``GOM Production Is on the Decline"...........    59
Manchin III, Hon. Joe:
    Opening Statement............................................     1
    U.S. Department of the Interior News release entitled 
      ``Secretary Haaland Provides Updates on Offshore Leasing 
      Program During Senate Testimony''..........................    36
Outdoor Alliance:
    Statement for the Record.....................................   143

 
THE PRESIDENT'S BUDGET REQUEST FOR THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
                          FOR FISCAL YEAR 2023

                              ----------                              


                         THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2022

                                       U.S. Senate,
                 Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:02 a.m. in 
Room SD-366, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Joe Manchin 
III, Chairman of the Committee, presiding.

          OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOE MANCHIN III, 
                U.S. SENATOR FROM WEST VIRGINIA

    The Chairman. The Committee will come to order.
    This morning the Committee will review the President's 
proposed budget for the Department of the Interior. I would 
like to welcome Secretary Haaland and Deputy Secretary 
Beaudreau back to the Committee as well as DOI Budget Director 
Denise Flanagan. Thank you all for being here.
    The President's Fiscal Year 2023 budget proposes just over 
$18 billion for the Department of the Interior. That is an 
increase of $1.9 billion, or almost 11 percent over the current 
appropriated level. On a positive note, the budget includes 
significant funding increases for most DOI Bureaus and an 
almost an eight-percent increase in staffing levels, which is a 
much-needed restoration from the previous cuts. The budget also 
includes full implementation of agency deferred maintenance and 
LWCF funding from the Great American Outdoors Act. But we are 
holding this hearing during trying times--Putin's horrific 
invasion of Ukraine, Russia's weaponization of oil and gas, 
increasing energy and food prices worldwide, and the growing 
challenge of competition with China. Given the current global 
situation, it is essential for the United States to step up to 
the plate as the superpower of the world that we are and the 
world counts on us to be. That includes the responsible 
development of our abundant energy and mineral resources.
    Unfortunately, even as we see Russia wage a war enabled by 
energy insecurity in Europe, this Administration has made its 
opposition to domestic oil and gas production crystal clear on 
and off federal lands and waters. Secretary Haaland, when you 
were before the Committee early last year, I told you that I 
supported the Administration taking a brief pause to review the 
oil and gas program before resuming lease sales. A few months 
later, that July, while you were here during last year's budget 
hearing, I made it clear that the time for a pause had come and 
gone. But almost a year and a half into this Administration, 
and as the world begs for North American oil and gas, we still 
have no new leases. While Interior held one offshore lease sale 
in the fall because of a court order, those sales were 
subsequently vacated by another court, and the Administration, 
for some reason, declined to appeal or defend them. Onshore 
lease sales have finally been scheduled for this June, albeit 
with only 20 percent of the nominated land made available, and 
alongside a royalty rate increase to 18.75 percent. But again, 
even this action is only because of a court order to comply 
with the requirements of the law, which requires quarterly 
lease sales. And the President's press secretary quickly 
clarified that ``the President's policy was to ban additional 
leasing.''
    I am sorry to say it has become crystal clear that the 
pause is, in fact, a ban. Making good on that ban, a week ago 
today, the Interior Department announced it would not be 
holding the three remaining offshore lease sales that could be 
held under the current five-year program. As you know, Senator 
Kelly and I wrote to the President urging him to develop and 
implement the next five-year program without delay. We pointed 
out that the Gulf of Mexico producers are among the cleanest in 
the world and would offset foreign imports shipped across 
oceans. Unfortunately, we have no reason to believe that a new 
five-year offshore leasing program will be completed on time 
this summer, as is required by law, or that if and when it is 
completed, it will actually provide any lease sales at all. If 
that is the case, this would be the first time in history that 
the replacement plan was not published on time.
    Now, the Administration continues to say that there are 
9,000 permits sitting unused, and that is why we do not need to 
do any more leasing onshore or offshore. So let us talk about 
this magic number of 9,000. First, this is the number of 
onshore drilling permits. And I repeat--onshore drilling 
permits. That is a distinction that is not being made, and an 
important one when you realize it is also being used as an 
argument against the offshore leasing. Second, now focusing on 
onshore, lease holders pay to apply for this permit months, if 
not longer, in advance due to the arduous review process; and 
there might be more you need to do once you finally get the 
permit, before you can drill. Third, while it is true that the 
number of drilling permits is slightly higher than normal, it 
is not true that they are sitting unused. Planning, scheduling 
a drill rig, finding labor and materials--these all take time, 
which is why the permits are valid for two years and can be 
extended for good cause. And this makes sense according to the 
Bureau of Land Management, because over 7,000 of these permits 
were extended past their initial two-year term. Now that oil 
prices are high, we are quick to forget that there were 
unprecedented negative oil prices in April of 2020 and during 
the COVID pandemic. So it is not surprising the companies asked 
for permit extensions and the BLM granted them.
    Now, I am not naive to how business operates. Oil and gas 
companies can get these leases and hold on to them at such a 
low rental rate compared to state and private land, that it 
also makes sense to have them on their books for inventory, 
even if the plan is not necessarily to develop them at all. We 
make it too easy. That has been the problem. That is what we 
thought your report on the leasing program would be--we would 
get something back from you all that would show how we could 
correct that. Let me be clear--I agree that federal lease terms 
should be competitive with the state and private markets and we 
should not be making our public lands a bargain basement deal. 
I also believe that we ought to streamline our permitting 
process so it is more comparable to state and private land. We 
are at 12.5 percent. They are at 16.67 percent. They are 
willing to pay the 16.67 percent because of the time element 
involved. But if the Administration's argument is that industry 
is to blame for sitting on these leases and permits, then why 
don't they do something about it? Why don't they make the 
changes?
    The fact is, the Department of the Interior already has the 
authority to adjust royalties to be competitive, address 
venting and flaring, fix bonding rates, and raise rental rates 
to encourage production. So, for example, if the concern is 
that too many leases are not being developed in a timely 
manner, the Department could increase the rental rates over 
time to provide a financial disincentive--a disincentive--
against holding leases for speculation alone. You don't need 
legislation or new authority to do this. You have the ability 
to do it, and we have been looking for your plan. $1.50 an acre 
for the first five years and $2 an acre thereafter--that is a 
sweetheart deal that does not give the needed push to develop. 
Instead, the BLM-scheduled lease sale in June simply raises the 
royalty rate to 18.75--which is a penalty on onshore 
production, and further than I would have gone. I have said 
that leaving rental rates alone doesn't discourage sitting on a 
lease, but the change to the royalty, on its own, 
disincentivized pursuing federal leases at all.
    Elsewhere, the Administration has not been shy about 
rulemaking that has chilled investment in the oil and gas 
sector. So I do not understand why they have not made these 
common-sense changes which we have talked about. So let me 
throw out one other fact that we haven't heard from the 
Administration. The percentage of onshore leases in production 
is the highest it has ever been in the past 20 years. Leasing 
is part of the cycle of development. Announcements that new 
leasing is not in line with the President's policy, while at 
the same time taking concrete steps to block or severely limit 
new leasing, have a chilling effect. And yes, new lease sales 
would not immediately increase production, but the 
Administration's short-sighted approach that only focuses on 
current production puts America's energy security at risk. The 
fact is, the federal leases onshore and offshore are producing 
domestic oil and gas, paying royalties, and increasing our 
energy security in a way that is so much cleaner than what 
Russia put into the market, what Iran puts into the market, and 
what Venezuela has ever put into the market. My frustration is 
at an all-time high that we are talking to OPEC, Iran, and 
Venezuela to increase oil output while we are at the same time 
blocking increased energy production at home. It makes no sense 
at all.
    Just yesterday, the Administration began the process of 
easing sanctions on Venezuela. If you can believe this--they 
are easing the basic sanctions that have kept Venezuela at bay 
by allowing Chevron to begin negotiations with the Venezuelan 
state-owned oil company about future activity. Now, I guarantee 
you, it won't be clean. While I understand that does not give 
the green light yet to go beyond talks, it is a clear step in 
that direction and shows the intent of what they want they do. 
What does this say to producers here in the United States when 
we consider working with the Venezuelan government, which 
certainly doesn't share our values, instead of supporting 
domestic or North American production? Is this really in our 
best interest? The best we can do? In that, the best interest 
of the free world is at stake.
    I believe that we have two critical goals addressing 
climate change and energy security. Actions like these do not 
get us any closer to either of those goals. From a methane 
emissions standpoint, Venezuelan oil is among the dirtiest 
anywhere in the world. Putin's war on Ukraine must serve as a 
permanent wake-up call to the international community that we 
cannot rely upon nations like Russia, Iran, Venezuela, or China 
for U.S. or our allies' energy security. The only way that we 
will be able to guarantee our energy security, which will also 
allow us to develop the technology to meet our climate goals, 
is to rely on ourselves and our proven partners around the 
globe. Along the same lines, I look ahead to the energy 
transition, and am concerned about our nation's supply of 
critical minerals, where the Department plays an enormous role 
through the U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Land 
Management. Unlike oil and gas, the Administration has shown 
interest in reducing the reliance on China and other countries 
for key minerals. However, these early steps require follow-
through.
    Earlier this week, Senator Murkowski and myself raised 
concerns about critical mineral deadlines from the Energy Act 
that multiple agencies, including Interior, have not met. These 
reports are the relatively easy part, particularly compared to 
permitting a new mining operation. While domestic mining is 
only a partial solution to our critical mineral challenges, 
make no mistake, we need to increase domestic critical mineral 
production and processing or we are going to regret it one day 
because Xi Jinping is taking note of what Putin is doing. That 
is even more important with the Administration so focused on 
electric vehicles, which will exponentially increase our demand 
for nickel, lithium, cobalt, copper, and graphite. The reality 
is that if we are serious about both climate and security, at 
some point in the very near future, new critical mineral mines 
will need to open on federal land, and we will need to onshore 
processing refining, manufacturing, and recycling. Given my 
experience with the so-called leasing pause and the missed 
Energy Act deadlines, I must admit that I am skeptical that 
this Administration will ultimately support the development of 
these types of critical mineral projects in the United States 
of America.
    Given my experience with the so-called leasing pause and 
the missed Energy Act deadlines, I must admit, again, that I am 
concerned. I hope, for the sake of our country, that I am 
proven wrong.
    Now I will recognize Senator Barrasso, for his opening 
statement.

           OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN BARRASSO, 
                   U.S. SENATOR FROM WYOMING

    Senator Barrasso. Well, thanks so much, Mr. Chairman, for 
your very strong and compelling statement about the needs for 
affordable energy on the day that gas prices continue to hit 
highs across the country. American consumers are suffering 
significantly. The Administration does not seem to care very 
much about what the impact is on American families who are 
trying to buy gasoline and at the same time buy groceries and 
at the same time send kids to school and buy clothing and maybe 
are considering something they would like to do for the summer. 
But with the gasoline prices, as a result of the 
Administration's activities, and specifically, the Department 
of the Interior's activities, it is very challenging for 
American families, which is no surprise then that under this 
Administration, three out of four Americans think this country 
is heading in the wrong direction. So I am very happy that you 
are holding this hearing today and very happy for the very 
strong statement that you have had, Mr. Chairman, much more 
reflective of the needs of the American people than of the 
needs and demands of the climate elitists of this country who 
are running this Administration.
    I do want to thank the Secretary for being here to testify 
today. The Department of the Interior is the steward for 20 
percent of America's lands and much of America's waters. And 
most of this land that they are stewards of is in the West. In 
Wyoming, half of our land is owned by the Federal Government. 
This includes Indian reservations, wildlife refuges, national 
parks, national recreation areas, and the vast Bureau of Land 
Management holdings. In Wyoming, we are very proud of our 
national parks, and all of our parks. You know, each year we 
host millions of visitors. They come to enjoy the spectacular 
views and iconic wildlife of the Grand Tetons and of 
Yellowstone National Park. This year is a landmark for Wyoming 
and the Park Service as we celebrate the 150th anniversary of 
Yellowstone.
    The Department also manages water, fights wildfires, 
oversees grazing, and it facilitates outdoor recreation. The 
West is confronting a historic drought. With reservoirs drying 
up, it concerns me that the Bureau of Reclamation was the only 
Bureau at the Interior Department that was actually cut in the 
budget request this year. The Department needs to prioritize 
our rural ranching and farming communities. Without water to 
grow the crops and raise the cattle, these communities would 
not exist, and the food needs of the American people would be 
even more dire and more expensive.
    The Department also oversees much of America's energy 
reserves. No department plays a more critical role in either 
enabling or undermining--because it is an either/or here--
enabling or undermining American energy production. It seems 
today that this Department is undermining American energy 
production. With inflation at a 40-year high and energy prices 
skyrocketing, the job as Secretary of Interior is pivotal. 
During the last year, gas prices have repeatedly hit new 
records, forcing American families to spend more on filling 
their tanks. Every day I hear from Wyoming families worried 
about making ends meet because of skyrocketing energy costs. 
And I don't know if you saw a prediction this morning, Mr. 
Chairman, they are talking now of $6 a gallon for gasoline this 
summer, later in the summer, all across the United States. 
There is no place you can go where it is less than $4 a gallon.
    During this energy crisis, when the Department could be 
opening up abundant American oil and gas reserves, the 
Department of the Interior has done everything possible to shut 
them down. The President says he wants his Administration to 
encourage more American energy. Instead, your Department, Madam 
Secretary, stalls, postpones, and kills oil and natural gas 
lease sales. Your Department is undermining domestic energy 
production, not expediting it. The results are apparent. Since 
President Biden took office, Americans have become much more 
dependent on foreign sources of energy. Meanwhile, the same 
Administration has spent much of its time begging our 
adversaries to produce more oil. You said it right, Mr. 
Chairman--well before the war in Ukraine, the Administration--
and the President, directly--was even begging Russia for more 
oil. They even put it on the White House website. Not just oil. 
It is natural gas. It is coal. We have plentiful minerals in 
this country. We need to find ways to increase, not decrease 
production of our nation's most abundant natural resources.
    It was not long ago that the shale revolution helped make 
our nation not just energy-independent, but energy-dominant. 
America was uniquely positioned to help our allies free 
themselves from the yoke of Russian energy. Sadly, this 
Administration has brought us to a counter-revolution, complete 
with higher prices and a weaker economy. Not what a president 
should be proud of, and the American people's polling shows 
that the American people are very disturbed by what this 
Administration is doing. Now is the time to reverse course. I 
hope we can begin to identify areas where we can work together 
to make American energy dominant again. By working to restore 
American energy dominance, this Department of the Interior 
could play a vital role in reducing the economic distress that 
has been caused by this Administration on millions and millions 
of Americans. I hope that you and the Administration will seize 
the moment and reverse your destructive course. And it is self-
destructive.
    Members of the Committee are also concerned with your 
Department's failure to respect Senate oversight 
responsibilities. You promised that this would not happen, but 
it has. It was only two weeks ago that we finally received 
responses to questions for the record from last year's budget 
hearings. Last year's hearings, we received answers to two 
weeks ago. A pattern has become very clear in this 
Administration and this Department, specifically. After 
delaying and obstructing and outright ignoring this Committee, 
Mr. Chairman, the responses failed to provide answers to the 
questions that were posed to you. Madam Secretary, this too 
needs to change. So I look forward to your testimony. Thank you 
for joining us today.
    The Chairman. Thank you, Senator.
    Now we are going to turn to Secretary Haaland for her 
statement.

       OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. DEB HAALAND, SECRETARY, 
                U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

    Secretary Haaland. Chairman Manchin, Ranking Member 
Barrasso, and members of the Committee, it is an honor and 
privilege to be here on the ancestral homelands of the 
Anacostan and Piscataway people to speak with you today on 
behalf of the President's 2023 budget for the Department of the 
Interior.
    I have had the honor of being the Secretary of the Interior 
for over a year now, and I recognize the importance of this 
moment for the future of the Department and our country. 
Through my travels and while working here in Washington, DC, I 
have seen firsthand how every day in every corner of the 
country, our employees go to work with a focus on results. They 
work with their local communities, states, tribal nations, and 
other partners to conserve and steward our nation's natural 
resources and cultural heritage for the benefit of everyone. 
Interior's programs are helping generate jobs, grow the 
economy, and build resilience to the challenges of our changing 
climate. I am grateful that over the past year, I have been 
able to visit many of your states and to meet the great people 
that you represent, and it is my hope that these visits will 
continue in the future. The work we do would not be possible 
without your leadership and support, and I look forward to 
continued collaboration on so many of these important issues.
    Before we turn our attention to the budget, I have gotten a 
lot of questions about the Outer Continental Shelf five-year 
planning process, so I want to talk about that up front. The 
previous Administration had stopped work in 2018 on the new 
five-year plan, so there has been a lot to do to catch up on 
this. Varying conflicting litigation has also been a factor. 
But of course, as I stated previously, BOEM is moving forward 
expeditiously and the Department will release the proposed 
program, which is the next step in the five-year planning 
process, by June 30th, which is the expiration of the current 
program. As we take this next step, we will follow the science 
and the law, as we always do. This requires a robust and 
transparent review process that includes input from the public, 
states, and tribes to inform our decision-making. We take this 
responsibility seriously, and are not pre-judging an outcome. I 
welcome your continued interest and inquiries, and my team will 
follow up next month with details of a proposed plan. Working 
together, we have the ability to make tangible differences in 
the lives of families across the country.
    I am proud that we have made great progress in the last 
year. We took steps to accelerate the development of renewable 
energy on public lands and waters, launched a federal boarding 
school initiative to address the intergenerational impact of 
Indian boarding school policy, deployed resources to build 
resilience to address the drought crisis, pursued justice for 
missing and murdered indigenous people, and worked to keep 
tribal communities safe, and we helped communities prepare 
against the threat of wildland fire by strengthening our 
federal firefighting workforce and the resilience of our lands. 
We also began implementing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law--
once in a generation investments that will help communities 
tackle the climate crisis while creating jobs, advancing 
environmental justice, and boosting local economies. This 
funding is already at work at Interior, kick-starting ongoing 
efforts to address intensifying drought, wildfires, flooding, 
and legacy pollution.
    The President's 2023 budget complements this with a request 
of $18.1 billion for the Interior Department. Our total request 
is a 12 percent increase from the 2022 enacted appropriation. 
Specifically, the President's budget invests in our country 
with an unprecedented total of $4.5 billion for Indian affairs 
programs focused on tribal sovereignty and stronger tribal 
communities. Up to $1.5 billion for wildland fire management to 
increase firefighting capacity, continue the transformation to 
a more permanent and professional wildland fire workforce, and 
ensure federal firefighters are paid at least $15 an hour. 
Complementing the transformative investment of the Bipartisan 
Infrastructure Law, the 2023 budget includes $1.4 billion for 
Reclamation programs and projects; a total of $4.9 billion 
across Interior to strengthen natural resource management and 
improve the resilience of tribal and Interior-managed lands; 
$125 million to advance the President's ambitious clean energy 
goals by increasing offshore wind energy power generation and 
permitting of onshore renewable energy technologies; more than 
$1.4 billion for research and development programs across the 
Department to ensure science continues to underpin Interior's 
core mission activities, and implementation of our Department 
wide diversity, equity inclusion, and accessibility initiative 
to proactively advance equity, civil rights, racial justice and 
equal opportunity. I have great ambitions for the Department of 
the Interior and what we can accomplish on behalf of the 
American people. Working together, we can do more to create 
good-paying, union jobs, increase the resilience of our lands, 
expand our ability to fight wildland fires, and mitigate 
drought, strengthen tribal nations, and improve the lives of 
Americans everywhere.
    In conclusion, we are doing our part to advance priorities 
that build a better America. Thank you again for having me, my 
colleague, Deputy Secretary Tommy Beaudreau, and our Budget 
Director, Denise Flanagan. We are all happy to be here with you 
and we are happy to answer any questions that you have.
    [The prepared statement of Secretary Haaland follows:]
    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    The Chairman. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Secretary.
    And I am going to turn now to Senator Wyden, who has to 
leave immediately and attend a hearing in Finance to try to 
make sure that our children have formula.
    Senator Wyden. Not a hearing, but it is hectic. And Mr. 
Chairman, thank you very much for the courtesy, and Senator 
Barrasso.
    Just a word on this energy debate and then I am going to go 
to forestry, and a number of colleagues have heard this. I will 
say, colleagues, I think there is a path out of the traditional 
gridlock with respect to energy policy. And a number of you 
know about this because it was actually birthed here in the 
Energy Committee, and it is premised on technological 
neutrality--market oriented, private-sector incentives for 
reducing carbon. And I would just note this morning, 
colleagues, the Chamber of Commerce wrote everybody to say they 
liked technological neutrality. Environmental folks like 
technological neutrality. And I just wanted to spend a quick 
minute--and I so appreciate the courtesy of our Chair--to say 
it seems to me all of our committees--all of our committees--
and I see my friend Senator Murkowski, because she was around 
when we birthed this idea of technological neutrality with 
respect to energy and getting government out of the business. 
And so, I just wanted to say a quick word as we all work 
together on this issue.
    Madam Secretary, great to see you. As you know, the West 
right now--I see my friend, Senator Heinrich here--we are 
consumed by the prospect of another very difficult summer 
getting hammered by fire. We know these fires today, they are 
not your grandfather's fires. They are bigger. They are hotter. 
They are more powerful. They leap over rivers. And we are 
getting whole towns whacked. So, what I would like to start 
with, as you know, we were able to secure a significant amount 
of funding for wildfire management in the infrastructure bill--
$5 billion. Our rural communities are looking at this as a 
lifeline. And I think it would be very helpful if you could 
start in and talk, for example, about how this money can be 
used and when it could be used for targeted thinning for 
prescribed fire, for fuels treatment. If you could just walk us 
through a bit about your plans to use that money to help the 
West, because I will tell you, everything we are seeing, Madam 
Secretary, another very, very ominous fire season. Please.
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you, Senator, and certainly, I 
understand what you are saying. New Mexico is facing, already, 
a really terrible fire year. It is devastating. It is 
heartbreaking. Friends of ours are having to evacuate. We 
understand that completely. And I am sorry. Unfortunately, 
there is a terrible drought, as you know, in the West. We are 
very grateful for the overall investments for the Bipartisan 
Infrastructure Law, close to $1.5 billion over five years. That 
will work on fuels management and rehabilitation. I also want 
to say, up front, that I am very proud to have a very strong 
working relationship with Secretary Vilsack and the team in the 
Forest Service to make sure that we are working together to do 
all we can.
    We need to make sure that we have the boots on the ground 
in those areas. One of the things that we are addressing, and I 
mentioned it in my opening remarks, we are working to make sure 
that firefighters make at least $15 an hour, moving some of the 
seasonal jobs into full-time jobs. And so, all of those 
things--the equipment, the people, the fuels management in 
those areas, it is all important to us. And we are working 
together to make sure that that happens.
    Senator Wyden. One other question, if I might, Madam 
Secretary, and I especially appreciate the extra pay for 
firefighters. We have known this has been so outrageous over 
the years to see these folks not getting paid even anything 
resembling a fair wage. So I really appreciate that.
    Now, I have been home. I have been having Town Hall 
meetings across rural Oregon and I am still hearing from a lot 
of folks on the ground, the local agencies, that they really 
have not gotten the information they need with respect to how 
the Federal Government is going to work with them with respect 
to wildfire response. Do you have plans that you could give us? 
And, you know, since I was chair of the Committee, I remember 
how we used to do it. It goes to Senator Manchin, Senator 
Barrasso, and the like. Do you have plans that you could get us 
so that we could get them out to our local agencies? Because I 
am still getting a lot of questions on that, and maybe you 
could even describe it. I am almost out of time, but please.
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, We are more than happy to give 
you as many details as you would like. Our staff will 
absolutely----
    Senator Wyden. Good.
    Secretary Haaland [continuing]. Reach out to your staff, 
and if there are specific questions about specific numbers of 
acreage and funding and so forth, we can put all of those 
things together and make sure that you have the answers for 
your constituents.
    Senator Wyden. Whatever you have in writing would be great. 
We look forward to it. You have always been responsive. I 
remember working with you in the House. Thank you very much.
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you. Thank you, Senator.
    Senator Wyden. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    The Chairman. Thank you, sir.
    Senator Barrasso.
    Senator Barrasso. Well, thanks, Mr. Chairman.
    And first to Senator Wyden, as he is ready to leave, I did 
note that the people of Oregon gave you a 90 percent victory in 
the primary. So, clearly your meetings and touring around the 
state and traveling, people are listening to you and you listen 
to them.
    Senator Wyden. Thank you.
    Senator Barrasso. Madam Secretary, the President has 
repeatedly claimed to be doing ``everything'' he could do to 
lower record-high gasoline and energy prices. On April 15th, 
your Department announced it was finally complying with a 
federal court order to hold onshore oil and gas leases. You 
then reduced the parcels offered by 80 percent. Then, you 
increased the royalty on production by 50 percent. So, you get 
less, you pay more. It seems like it is Secretary Haaland's 
price hike here, not Putin's. Please explain how your price 
hike on American energy production is going to help lower 
gasoline and home energy prices.
    Secretary Haaland. Ranking Member, thank you so much for 
the question. With respect to current energy, new drilling has 
been up. They began drilling nearly 1,900 new oil and gas wells 
in 2021 alone. We have issued and approved more than 4,700 
drilling permits since January 2021--1,100 in 2022 alone. We 
have worked to do our jobs. We are following the science. We 
are following the law. With respect to some of the reforms that 
we made, I take my job very seriously. It is my job to manage 
and conserve all of our public lands for every single American. 
Those are things that are all taken into consideration 
considering the climate crisis that we are in. We felt that 
implementing several reforms, such as issuing leases where 
current infrastructure exists, for example, would move our 
country forward with respect to making sure we are conserving 
the land and also doing our jobs to produce energy.
    Senator Barrasso. Thank you, Madam Secretary.
    You and I both know that taxpayers get absolutely zero 
return when we keep American energy in the ground and we turn 
to Venezuela or Iran or others. Madam Secretary, a close review 
of the parcels that were offered in my home State of Wyoming 
shows that you are only offering parcels that are likely to 
have little interest. For example, the parcels are not near 
existing infrastructure. Why are we not offering--and you 
offering--the most attractive parcels?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, I would be happy to look into 
that. We speak to people on the ground. We have an idea of 
where those leases should happen. It is, I mean, there is a 
science behind it. If you would like, we would be happy to 
follow-up with you on any specific parcels that you are 
referring to.
    Senator Barrasso. Thank you, Madam Secretary, that would be 
very helpful because the producers in Wyoming are telling me 
that the best parcels have been taken off the table, and if you 
actually wanted to produce more American energy, you wouldn't 
take the best leasing options off the table.
    I wanted to move on to what you announced this morning. You 
announced that the Department will release a proposed five-year 
plan on offshore oil and gas leases. You are way behind 
schedule, and have not provided any details on the plan. Two 
weeks ago, the Senate voted to support my motion to finalize a 
new five-year plan by June 2022. Well, that is coming up in 
about six weeks. My motion requires the new plan to include 
robust leasing with at least ten region-wide lease sales off of 
Alaska and in the Gulf of Mexico, with a minimum of two sales 
per calendar year. Now, a large majority of this Committee--
both sides of the aisle--voted for it and it passed the Senate.
    Will you finalize a new five-year plan by this date that 
the Senate, in a bipartisan way, is recommending that includes 
at least ten region-wide sales off of Alaska and the Gulf of 
Mexico with at least two sales per year?
    Secretary Haaland. Ranking Member, as I mentioned in my 
opening remarks, we are working on the process and we have been 
working on that process. The process was stopped in 2018, as I 
mentioned, so there was a lot to catch up on. I will be happy 
to--we will run a transparent process. We will do what is 
required through the law and we are happy to keep you updated 
as to the progress that we are making on the five-year plan.
    Senator Barrasso. Well, thank you, because, Mr. Chairman, 
the Administration cannot have it both ways. The Administration 
cannot pretend to support oil and gas production while doing 
everything in their power to slow down and block expanded 
production on public lands.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    The Chairman. Thank you, Senator. And I will go to my 
questions next, if you don't mind.
    I would like to ask the same thing to follow up. Onshore 
and offshore, all we are asking for--can you commit to doing 
the leasing? I know you are going to do the plan. What we are 
committed to is the leasing that goes with it because there is 
no guarantee that is going to happen on either onshore or 
offshore. And if you cannot answer, I understand where I have 
to get the answer from. If you can, is your intent to lease?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you, Chairman.
    Our intent is to follow the law. We know that this five-
year plan is in the works right now. I could not tell you if I 
tried what is in it at the moment.
    The Chairman. Let me just, if I can, I am so sorry to 
interrupt you, but never before has there not been a lease when 
the plan was put forward. It was put forward with the intent to 
lease and it was followed up with leasing. You seem to be 
hesitant. And I understand. I am not trying to put you in a 
tough spot. I just want to know--is the Administration's intent 
to lease, unless you are stopped from leasing?
    Secretary Haaland. Chairman, we have continued to lease, 
and I won't mention the permits because I know that is not 
something you want to hear, but the truth be told, right now, 
currently, onshore there are more than 12 million acres under 
lease, offshore more than eight million acres under lease. It 
is clear that we are leasing.
    The Chairman. Well, those have been previous, but the 
bottom line is that you have the ability to make some of the 
changes if we recommend it. There are practical changes that 
should have been made by now. You don't need us. You can look 
and review it. And if we think you are out of bounds then we 
will pull you back in, but we think that, basically, there 
needs to be adjustment--a lease program. The private sector 
understands it. All the leases they are holding, they should 
not be holding, but they will if they are as cheap as they are. 
So there are a lot of adjustments that can be made. We are not 
making any attempt. I am not going to belabor this anymore.
    What I am going to do is this. My good friend here from New 
Mexico, Senator Heinrich, has shown me the fires they are 
dealing with in New Mexico and all over the West. Those of us 
on the East Coast do not really understand. So I started asking 
questions to the people within the timber industry. And I found 
out that on private lands local citizens can act as good 
Samaritans and put it out before it gets out of control. If it 
happens on federal land, they are not able to do this. That 
does not make any sense to me. I have talked to people who 
basically had contracts for cutting timber. Lightning strikes, 
and they saw a fire start, but they could not act quick enough 
to put it out. They had to call the Federal Government and by 
the time you got there, you have a raging, out-of-control fire. 
I never knew this, Senator. And this is something new to me and 
it does not make any sense.
    I am sure that none of us intended for that to happen, but 
they are telling me that they cannot go on, as a Good 
Samaritan, on federal lands. Is that what you understand? Is 
that--anybody?
    Secretary Haaland. Chairman, I am very, very happy to look 
into this for you. I know that----
    The Chairman. It doesn't make sense, does it?
    Secretary Haaland [continuing]. I appreciate your concern 
and I will absolutely----
    The Chairman. Well, I am sure my Senators here from the 
West--do you want to say something to that?
    Senator Cantwell. Well, I was walking in, sorry but I would 
say that, you know, my communities after a severe fire, you 
know, several years ago, I mean, we have had them every year, 
but after the loss of four firefighters, I think people really 
do believe that the community can be involved in what we termed 
``hasty response.'' And hasty response is an integrated system 
of local county officials and people working together to jump 
on unique changes in our climates driving much warmer 
temperatures. And my colleague, Senator Risch, I do not see him 
here this morning, but he has the incident response command in 
Idaho. So you can go and visit that. And they will tell you, 
they will show you the mapping.
    With these dry conditions, fires start much easier and so 
we have to create a system that now responds to that because of 
the escalation. So if everything is a lot drier, and you have 
the ability to have many, many more fire starts, having hasty 
response. And so, we have done some work on this, but Mr. 
Chairman, we could always do more.
    The Chairman. Okay. Let me just say this, if I may. I was 
talking to one of the larger companies that do timbering on 
federal lands. They are out in the Hither Lands, okay? And 
there is no quick response. And he told me they saw a lightning 
strike, they saw the fire start, and they had to call it in. It 
did not make sense to me at all. Is there a prohibition? And if 
there is not, then they misled me. If there is, we have to 
change that because these are professional timber people. It is 
to their best interest to stop the fire before it goes out of 
control. So I am just asking that question. I know we have 
taken a long time.
    I have another question I wanted to ask.
    Secretary Haaland Chairman, if I could just say very 
quickly----
    The Chairman. Sure.
    Secretary Haaland [continuing]. That we work consistently 
with states, tribes, and local communities to make sure that 
this is a coordinated effort, and we know how important and 
dire the situation is.
    The Chairman. I just have one more question on that and I 
will turn to my fellow colleagues.
    I have heard so much about the flaring that goes on on 
public lands. I know on private lands they do everything they 
can to capture it because it is a valued asset. It is a valued 
product they sell. And some are saying, why in the world would 
they be flaring? Why are they doing this? And I am told that 
they cannot get a permit for a pipeline to take the methane 
off. So my question would be, has the Department taken any 
steps to reduce venting and flaring on our public lands by 
expediting the process of getting a permit for a pipeline to 
take that dangerous and harmful methane off into the market 
that needs it?
    Secretary Haaland. Chairman, thank you so much. I--yes, we 
all need to reduce the methane waste----
    The Chairman. But it happens because----
    Secretary Haaland. Yes, and it causes a lot of health 
problems as well. So, I understand that.
    We are continuing to issue permits for gathering lines, and 
Congress has provided additional authority in the Bipartisan 
Infrastructure Law, and we will move that forward as we can, 
and I appreciate that being a priority.
    The Chairman. I am going to go back to firefighting right 
now because we have had some horrific events, you know, we had 
a firefighter take their life. Just very quickly, we put 
additional funding in the the Bipartisan Infrastructure bill. 
Have you started using that funding to try to address the 
mental illness problems that we are concerned about with these 
brave firefighters?
    Secretary Haaland. That is a priority for us, Chairman. I 
could not tell you whether that funding is in the works----
    The Chairman. Could you please check that and get back to 
us as quickly as possible?
    Secretary Haaland [continuing]. At the moment, but we are 
working. We are working on that and we agree with you that is 
something that absolutely is a priority for our Department.
    The Chairman. Senator Daines.
    Thank you.
    Senator Daines. Chairman Manchin, thank you.
    Secretary Haaland, I want to first thank you for beginning 
the process in releasing the initial investigative report of 
the tragic history of federal Indian boarding school policies. 
It is an extremely important issue to me and our Montana tribes 
and I look forward to working with you on this issue going 
forward. So thank you.
    Under the Endangered Species Act, the Secretary of Interior 
has 90 days to respond to petitions to list or delist a 
species. It has been nearly 150 days since Montana Governor 
Greg Gianforte filed a petition to delist the Northern 
Continental Divide Ecosystem Population of the Grizzly Bear, 
and almost 130 days since Governor Gordon of Wyoming filed a 
petition for the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. During your 
confirmation hearing last year, you agreed that these two 
populations of grizzly bears had met recovery criteria. 
Secretary Haaland, why has the Department delayed in responding 
to these petitions, and when can these two Governors expect an 
answer?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you very much, Senator, for the 
question. I know that the Fish and Wildlife Service is working 
to complete the review of the petitions that you mentioned to 
delist the grizzly bear. The implementation of the ESA is 
guided by science and the law. I would be happy to, when I 
return this afternoon to my office, to inquire about a timeline 
and make sure that Martha or someone reaches out.
    Senator Daines. Yes, and for perspective, FWS did respond 
to some activists who looked to relist gray wolf populations on 
May 26th and June 29th. So, that was within 114 days and 80 
days, respectively. There is far more data supporting grizzly 
recovery than wolf relisting, and FWS is supposed to prioritize 
petitions in part based on existing established data, not 
politics.
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you very much, Senator. I will 
find out where that is and I will make sure that they are 
responding appropriately.
    Senator Daines. Thank you.
    Your agency's five-year status review concluded the bear 
was recovered, and it is my understanding the State of Montana 
has responded to agency feedback regarding our conservation 
plan. What reason could you have for not moving forward 
favorably?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, I just want you to know that we 
continuously work with states and with tribes. I know Martha, 
especially, being from Wyoming, is in contact with folks in the 
state government. I will be happy to look at their timeline. I 
will make sure that they reach out to you.
    Senator Daines. Thank you.
    Secretary Haaland. And I----
    Senator Daines. Martha's from Montana, by the way. Martha's 
from Montana, so.
    Earlier this year, you authored an editorial on gray wolves 
devoid of any facts or substance but nonetheless, threatening 
Montana with emergency listing. Secretary Haaland, have wolf 
populations in the Northern Rockies Management Unit fallen 
below 150 wolves?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, I could not tell you the exact 
number of wolves. But I am happy to get that information.
    Senator Daines. Okay, well, I can tell you that number. 
There are an estimated 1,177 wolves in Montana alone this year. 
The minimum target here is 150 for that unit. So that is the 
number.
    Secretary Haaland, have wolf populations in either state 
fallen below 100 wolves for three consecutive years in a row?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, what I can say about wolves is 
that I know they are doing well in certain parts of the 
country. They are not doing so well in other parts of the 
country.
    Senator Daines. Are they doing well in Montana?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, if I could say that the work 
that we are doing with respect to wolves in the ESA, it is 
guided by science and the law. I feel confident that our team 
is working within those parameters.
    Senator Daines. Okay, I could not agree more with science 
and the law. Do you realize that gray wolf populations in 
Montana have remained above a thousand wolves for over ten 
consecutive years?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, I do not know the exact number 
of wolves. I beg your pardon. I would be happy to get that 
number for you and make sure you have the information that you 
require.
    Senator Daines. Well, as you said, the science is really 
important and the law is important and the numbers are 
important. So I hope you get up to speed on this. It is a very 
important issue for us out west, and it is not that hard to get 
the data. I expect--actually I have that in this hearing, with 
all due respect.
    Secretary Haaland, is there any data that shows Montana's 
law significantly increased the threat to gray wolves in 
Montana?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, I know that wolves have made a 
remarkable comeback from when they were first listed. That is 
in thanks to all the partnerships that we have made. I know 
that your state has done that remarkable job in ensuring that 
the ecosystems support the animals that are there. The Fish and 
Wildlife Service will make a 12-month finding at the end of the 
review. I believe that is in September, and we can update you 
further as----
    Senator Daines. Thank you, and I am out of time, but just 
let the record show--the data shows that the wolf population is 
way over the recovery target--way over--as well as the grizzly 
bear populations. So it is time to delist the grizzly bear. 
Return the management of that wonderful species, that has 
recovered, back to the states of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. 
Thank you.
    The Chairman. Thank you, Senator.
    Senator Heinrich.
    Senator Heinrich. Thank you, Chairman. And Chairman, thank 
you for your interest in the fires. We are seeing really 
different fire behavior these days.
    The Chairman. You are on the front lines.
    Senator Heinrich. We are in a drought that has not been 
this bad for 1,200 years, and we are seeing wind events that we 
have never seen before. So it is very--we have almost 2,000 
people on one fire, and it is simply impossible for them to 
hold lines when we have--we have had times when there have been 
seven, eight, nine red flag days in a row. So, if you have 45 
mile an hour winds, 50 mile an hour winds, you cannot put the 
tankers up in the air. It is dangerous. You cannot put the 
helicopters up in the air. And sometimes, you can't put 
firefighters in front of these spotting fires. And so, it is 
just very, very difficult. We are going to have to re-evaluate 
how we fight fires, how we do prescriptions, and I very much 
appreciate your interest because we are going to have to work 
together on it.
    The Chairman. Committed to help.
    Senator Heinrich. Deputy Secretary Beaudreau, I wanted to 
ask you, because you have been around for a couple of different 
administrations--oil and gas production, at least in my State 
of New Mexico--up or down?
    Mr. Beaudreau. Oil and gas production onshore and offshore 
are at record levels actually. And so, a lot of this 
conversation has been focused on leasing, then it gets 
conflated into, you know, allegations that the Administration 
is somehow anti-production.
    Senator Heinrich. Are we producing more or less oil and gas 
in New Mexico on public lands?
    Mr. Beaudreau. More.
    Senator Heinrich. Yes. According to the EIA, our production 
is up over 400 percent in the last decade. So, I just, I only 
raise that because it is hard to square with some of the 
rhetoric we hear here on the Hill.
    I want to move to hardrock mine cleanup. Secretary, in the 
Bipartisan Infrastructure bill, Congress finally authorized a 
dedicated abandoned hardrock mine reclamation program, 
something we have needed for decades and decades. And I was 
really pleased to see in the President's budget a request for 
$85 million for hardrock mine cleanup. But that funding is 
channeled through the Abandoned Mine Lands program and through 
the Energy Community Revitalization program, which is actually 
kind of designed to deal with abandoned oil and gas wells. Why 
not simply take that $85 million and fund the Abandoned 
Hardrock Mine Reclamation Program that we authorized in the 
infrastructure bill?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, thank you so much for 
recognizing the need for us to clean up that legacy pollution 
across the country, and we are grateful to have the opportunity 
to change people's lives in that way, not only about creating 
jobs but cleaning up their environment so the pollution does 
not cause health problems and so forth. I appreciate that 
comment, and we are happy to speak with you. We are happy to 
speak more with you about this issue, and of course, follow the 
lead. The Department is requesting $65 million in the OS to 
address these hardrock mines, so.
    Senator Heinrich. Yes, I just, I think it makes sense to 
stand up a stand-alone program that really focuses on this. It 
was a challenge to get this established. It took decades. And I 
think now is the time and----
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you.
    Senator Heinrich [continuing]. I look forward to working 
with you on that.
    Can you talk a little bit about how you are tracking 
conservation progress? I know the President has articulated 
some very aggressive goals. The 30 by 30 goal is out there. But 
how are you actually tracking, you know, what lands Interior 
has protected and what kind of progress you are able to make 
toward those aggressive goals?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you, Senator, and thank you for 
mentioning the America the Beautiful initiative, which is 
really a very unifying opportunity for our country to conserve 
for the future.
    There is an atlas that is coming out. I believe the beta 
version is out sometime this summer that will be able to track 
those lands more consistently. We are happy to keep you updated 
on when we are rolling that out, and I think it will be a 
really great opportunity.
    Senator Heinrich. Thank you, Chairman.
    Secretary Haaland. It should be by the end of the year--the 
atlas by the end of the year.
    Senator Heinrich. I look forward to having the chance to 
review that when it comes out.
    Secretary Haaland. Yes, thank you.
    The Chairman. If I may, really quickly, Secretary Haaland, 
I don't know, did you all just put out a statement? Did the 
U.S. Department of the Interior put out a statement? And the 
statement basically says a proposed program is not a decision 
to issue specific leases or to authorize any drilling or 
development. This is from you all's office. So it looks like 
you all are planning to shut everything down. Did you know you 
all put this out?
    [The statement referred to follows:]
    [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Secretary Haaland. I am sorry. I am sitting in this hearing 
and not----
    The Chairman. My God, somebody--it shuts it down. It shows 
what your intent is.
    Senator Marshall. Can you send it around?
    The Chairman. Yes, we can. We will get copies for everyone.
    Senator Cassidy. Can you read it once more?
    The Chairman. Basically, it says Secretary Haaland provides 
updates on the offshore leasing program during the Senate 
testimony--``during testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee 
on Energy and Natural Resources--today, Secretary of the 
Interior, Deb Haaland confirmed that, despite delays in 
implementation from the previous Administration, the Interior 
Department will release the proposed program--the next step in 
the five-year offshore energy planning process--by June 30, 
2022, which is the expiration of the current program. A 
proposed program is not a decision to issue specific leases or 
to authorize any drilling or development.''
    So they are going to do the proposal, but it does not 
guarantee they are going to do any leasing at all.
    Secretary Haaland. Chairman, what I can say is, I believe 
what that is saying is that it is the plan that is coming out. 
There is a----
    The Chairman. But I think you are prefacing it by saying 
after--you are acknowledging the plan. You will have a plan by 
June 30th, but you went further to say that does not mean that 
you are issuing any specific leases. If you have a plan, you 
should have--I mean, we have never done this. This is the 
first. This is history. We have never done that before--not 
issue leases--if you put a plan out. The plan has always been a 
long-term, five-year plan to lease.
    Secretary Haaland. I do not believe that it is saying that 
we are not going to do any of those things. I think it is, I 
think it is----
    The Chairman. Let me just pass--I will get copies for 
everybody. Maybe I am reading it wrong. We will get copies for 
everybody.
    Secretary Haaland. I think it is saying that we are putting 
the plan out but not saying what is in the plan.
    The Chairman. With the intent not to--in all honesty, I'm 
sorry, we are going to have to agree to disagree. I am not 
going to get into dialogue back and forth.
    Yes, sir.
    Mr. Beaudreau. Yes, Senator, Chairman, if I can just, sort 
of, be clear?
    The Chairman. Okay.
    Mr. Beaudreau. The five-year planning process is a three-
step process. The Trump Administration did the first step in 
2018, and then they dropped the process, largely because their 
energy dominance rhetoric caused a lot of alarm. It caused a 
lot of pushback. And so it is appropriate for us to take a 
step, be deliberate as we think about potential future leasing 
described in the five-year program. What that statement says is 
by the end of June, we will take step number two, and it is 
just step number two in a three-step process. No decisions 
about leasing will be made until step number three. That is all 
that says.
    The Chairman. With all due respect, let me just say this--I 
am told that we always got your step one, what you intend to 
do, on June 30th, a lot longer than the deadline, a lot of time 
in between. We would have had time to go to step two and three 
and evaluate where you were going. It would have sent a clear 
signal that you are looking at what is going to basically 
provide the assurance that we can continue to provide for 
ourselves in America the cleanest energy coming from the Gulf, 
but we are getting this at the last possible day in the last 
possible minute, knowing that there are other steps to go 
through. It gives us no security. That is all I am saying. The 
timing is not right. You all have taken as long as you possibly 
could.
    Mr. Beaudreau. I hear you, Chairman.
    The Chairman. Okay.
    Mr. Beaudreau. It is, as the Secretary said, we got a lot 
put into our lap that we have to sort through.
    The Chairman. I do and I----
    Mr. Beaudreau. Including to calm down the American people 
when they put out a plan that caused panic in Republican states 
like Florida, up and down the Atlantic Coast. We have to unpack 
all that.
    The Chairman. Yes. We understand that we are in challenging 
times right now, but we have got to send a clear signal that we 
can take care of ourselves in the United States.
    With that, who do we have? Senator Cantwell.
    Oh, we are back to the Republicans? Oh, I was----
    Senator Cantwell. Oh, I wish I could be next.
    The Chairman. I know. I know, you would like to be.
    Senator Cantwell. I am sure I am not.
    The Chairman. Senator Lankford.
    You will be after Senator Lankford.
    Senator Lankford. Mr. Chairman, thank you.
    Let me finish out this conversation. On June 30, there is a 
release of a proposal. There is going to be a comment period 
and everything else on offshore. When is the earliest we could 
actually start leasing? I know there is a comment period coming 
back in. I have got a lot of other questions I want to go 
through, but when is the earliest, based on this proposal, we 
could actually start leasing? Because the five-year plan is set 
to be done by that point. It is not done. It is a proposal. So 
when is the earliest we could actually start leasing?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, thank you for the question. The 
develop and release of the proposed program draft, the 
programmatic environmental impact statement, followed by a 90-
day public comment period. We incorporate those comments and 
input to develop and publish the proposed final program and 
final programmatic EIS, which can be approved by me and adopted 
60 days after that. So we plan to have the proposed program by 
June 30th.
    Senator Lankford. Right.
    Secretary Haaland. And another 90, plus 60--150 days after 
that and probably----
    Senator Lankford. So you are saying by the end of this 
year, by December 31, at that point, with that calendar, that 
you would be able to start leasing at that point?
    Secretary Haaland. I will absolutely keep you abreast of 
the progress that we are making and make sure that this 
Committee knows----
    Senator Lankford. So, is it--when is the deadline on it, to 
be able to start leasing actually, to be able to get to this 
point, to have this process done?
    Secretary Haaland. I don't think there is an actual 
deadline.
    Senator Lankford. That is the concern, actually, that all 
of us have, is that there is actually no deadline, that the 
proposal to talk about it is coming on the date that it should 
be done, and that this is going to then stretch out for the 
next two or three years of talking about it. And so, we are 
trying to figure out, when is the deadline to actually start 
leasing?
    Secretary Haaland. We will absolutely keep you informed.
    Senator Lankford. So there is not a deadline on it?
    Secretary Haaland. Not at this moment.
    Senator Lankford. Okay, let me run a couple things past 
you. We have a military base in Oklahoma that has a large 
energy--of natural gas actually. This has been a priority for 
DOD and others to try to make their bases more independent for 
energy at this point. We have been trying to get technical 
assistance from your office for the last five months to try to 
get the details on this. Can you commit to me we will be able 
to get some technical assistance? Because this is a priority of 
DOD, obviously of our state, but we are waiting on your team to 
be able to finish this out.
    Secretary Haaland. I am so sorry if you have been waiting 
on us. I will absolutely make sure that someone reaches out to 
your staff this afternoon.
    Senator Lankford. It would be very helpful. We are dealing 
with the same thing with the Osage Mineral Council. This is a 
tribe in Oklahoma that is very dependent on BIA and making 
decisions there. We have multiple decisions that have been 
delayed for a long time. This also deals with the remediation, 
the plugging, and all kinds of other things there that the 
Osage Mineral Council has been very interested in, but it seems 
to be just delay, delay. The latest we just got back was 
sometime in June, and we are just trying to figure out when we 
are going to get a decision on that.
    Secretary Haaland. I just want you to know that Assistant 
Secretary Bryan Newland has been in touch with the tribe 
recently and he will continue to work with them.
    Senator Lankford. That was the letter that says we will get 
back to you in June. I have seen that letter as well from 
Bryan. But they are just looking to try to figure out when they 
are going to get answers. Right now, they are just getting a, 
``we will give you an answer at some future date,'' and trying 
to be able to get resolution on this.
    In the Southwest, and you may have heard about this, we 
tried to give an update to your team we were going to ask about 
this. The Administration talks a lot about critical minerals 
development. In the Southwest, there is a company that is 
trying, that has gone through the leasing process to actually 
do leasing since 2017 on lithium in that area. And now, there 
is a pretty dramatic change where there has been a withholding 
of the core of their lithium deposit that they are now saying, 
well, you can do all of your development, but not here in the 
core of actually the project itself. It is being held out. All 
they are looking for is for the information of how this 
decision is made and what they can actually get public about 
the actual mineral process itself. All they want is just 
engagement, but they are not getting the engagement at this 
point, and this is lithium deposits, which I understand we are 
trying to go after. So, again, it is just engagement to be able 
to do this.
    One more thing, you talked before about some of the leasing 
onshore and had said you were trying to work with the different 
entities on trying to get the best possible leases out there. 
The Ranking Member had mentioned before that in Wyoming, they 
are dealing with the frustration of the best possible leases 
being the ones that are actually not being allowed--that it is 
ones that are far away from the infrastructure. I am 
interacting with companies that are saying there is a 
checkerboard of leases and yes, they are producing, but they 
have a lease and they cannot get the leases around it. So they 
are not going to go develop that lease until they know they can 
actually lease around it. So, this checkerboard is not being 
made available to them. So, they are saying just drill on what 
you have, and they are saying well, we are not going to really 
do long-term, intensive development there, bring in additional 
employees and bring in additional supplies until we know we can 
actually connect these leases and do more development. But that 
is not being allowed by your team. They have reached out 
multiple times to the team to say, will you talk to us about 
these leases being made available, and the answers they are 
getting is zero. They are not getting a response at all on it.
    So the frustration here is, making the right leases 
available to actually lease that is next to other energy that 
is being developed where the actual infrastructure is. Again, 
this has the appearance for the future of--we do not want more 
development in this area, we are going to make it more 
expensive and harder to be able to get to those leases rather 
than the less expensive, you know, areas where we know we have 
reserves and infrastructure being made available.
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you so much for bringing that to 
my attention, and I will absolutely make sure that my staff 
reaches out to you and reaches out to them. I apologize for 
that non-communication.
    Senator Lankford. Thank you. We all want to be able to get 
more energy. Our prices depend on it at this point to be able 
to get access to that.
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you.
    The Chairman. Thank you, Senator.
    Senator Cantwell.
    Senator Cantwell. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Madam Secretary, good to see you. I wanted to get three 
things covered, if I could, but first is the fire season. We 
have gotten from the incident Predictive Services what the fire 
season will look like--significant fire threat above normal for 
August. And sorry, I do not have a larger chart there, but you 
can see, you know, obviously my eye goes to Washington right 
away.
    [The chart referred to follows:]
    [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Senator Cantwell. So, the central part of our state, which 
is, you know, where we are always concerned, although, I am 
pretty sure that red area goes all the way over to Spokane. So 
I wanted to ask you about weather predictives, because 73 
percent of the fires that were started in our state were 
started from lightning strikes. So the weather and weather 
predictive issues matter. Senator Sullivan and I just 
introduced a bill to upgrade the NOAA weather forecasting 
capabilities to give us more accurate data. This is helpful not 
only in caching services in advance when we know where fires 
are going to be, but also, protection of our firefighting 
personnel.
    We had an incident where probably if we would have been 
listening to the forecasting in Seattle, we would not have sent 
people out--just like my colleague was saying--high winds, but 
the forecaster that was on the ground in the Okanogan did not 
think the winds were going to be that high, and obviously, we 
ended up with fatalities that day. So what will Interior do to 
work with NOAA to better integrate forecasting capabilities in 
the operations and management?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you very much, Senator.
    You are absolutely right that better forecasting can help 
fire managers in planning, and the firefighting efforts on the 
ground. We work with NOAA all the time. We work with our 
colleagues across the Federal Government for issues such as 
this, and I will make sure that we are reaching out to NOAA 
specifically on this issue and doing all we can to----
    Senator Cantwell. If we need an MOU or something, whatever 
we call it, within the government, I hope we do that because I 
think it is important.
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you.
    Senator Cantwell. The second map is on drought conditions, 
which, you know, again, you would think rainy Seattle--what are 
you talking about? Well, the central part of our state there, 
big agriculture basin and you know, I really start worrying 
about wheat when we look at what is going on in Ukraine and I 
look at what is happening with the wheat production in 
Washington and Idaho, which is quite significant.
    [The chart referred to follows:]
    [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Senator Cantwell. We are hearing from our wheat growers 
that, I mean, we are still in drought conditions and so, that 
is why we have fought for funding in technologies to look at 
aquifer recharge. So do you believe that getting this program 
up and running as soon as possible would be helpful in water 
source substitutions in the West?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you so much for the question. 
First, I just want to say that our team, Tanya Trujillo, our 
Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, her team is in such 
close contact with every state and folks on the ground with 
respect to this terrible drought in the West. They work on that 
every single day. And certainly, Reclamation is currently 
assessing the eligible projects for funding capabilities and 
needs. So thank you. Every tool in the toolbox is what we need 
to use with respect to this drought. Senator Heinrich mentioned 
it is the worst it has been in 1,200 years. So I just want you 
to know that we are doing everything that we possibly can and 
appreciate you bringing that----
    Senator Cantwell. Yes, I think the recharge idea is a great 
idea. I just think we ought to get on it and get on it quickly.
    The last thing, I wanted to--the Chairman had a meeting I 
was unable to attend, on Canadian cooperation and issues 
related to mining. To me, it showcases how Canada has been 
successful at hardrock mining because they have had a royalty 
system, and I do want us to work on critical minerals together. 
These are essential to key technologies, from cobalt to lithium 
to photovoltaic cells to rare earth mineral magnets that are 
used in wind and electric vehicles. So we need to focus on 
making sure the U.S. is competitive in critical mineral markets 
and find innovative ways and environmentally responsible ways 
to do that, including recycling these materials. Do you think 
that this royalty issue should be addressed here? Can you 
please describe how the Department can support both critical 
minerals development on public land while ensuring it is in, 
you know, appropriate places and what you think about the 
royalty issue?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you, Senator.
    And I am very, very proud to lead the United States 
Geological Survey. There is a team of scientists there that 
work on this issue every single day, and they understand the 
President's leadership with respect to critical minerals and 
our clean energy technology that we are moving toward. Also, 
the Interagency Work Group has met recently. I was at their 
first meeting. They are working to make recommendations to all 
of us on how we can be more efficient. The Mining Law is 150 
years old, and has not had any changes since then, so it is 
pretty clear that our country has changed. And so, I am happy 
that they have a chance to work on that. But we will take all 
those recommendations to heart.
    Senator Cantwell. Did anybody want to make a comment on the 
royalty issue?
    Mr. Beaudreau. Yes. One of the changes that needs to be 
made in the Mining Law is to provide us with a royalty 
mechanism. No question.
    Senator Cantwell. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    The Chairman. Senator Cassidy.
    Senator Cassidy. Thank you, all.
    Let's imagine someone is watching on C-SPAN right now, and 
they are hearing two sides, if you will, from the Chairman all 
the way over, speaking about how this Administration appears to 
have had a concerted effort to block oil and gas development. 
And you deny it. But the fact that you deny it suggests that 
you agree that if we had more production, it could help lower 
the price at the pump and lower the fuel prices, the air 
conditioning, the heating prices, for the folks at home. Now, 
that mom who is watching on C-SPAN, wondering how she is going 
to pay for her gasoline, is wondering who to believe because I 
think it is critical if we can--we apparently all agree that if 
we increase production that there might be some positive 
benefit upon the prices that she is paying at the pump and for 
her fuel bill.
    So, let me just put up some actions of this Administration 
to kind of put it out there, if you will.
    [The chart referred to follows:]
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    Senator Cassidy. The first week President Biden came in, he 
canceled the Keystone XL Pipeline, shipping oil from our 
closest ally down to the Gulf Coast to be processed in an 
environmentally sensitive way. Halted all new oil and gas 
leasing. Killed a five-year offshore leasing program. Frankly, 
your Administration is populated with people who hate fossil 
fuel. Invalidated Gulf lease sale 257. Did not appeal. 
Pressured financial markets into abandoning financing for 
fossil fuel projects. I could keep going. Now, I have got ten 
up there. I could probably add 20. So when I hear, oh no, we 
are doing everything possible, but what am I going to believe? 
My lying eyes or--this is just not making sense to me.
    And Mr. Beaudreau, when you say that you could not go to 
lease sales because you had to clean up all the uncertainty 
that had been created by the previous Administration, along the 
Atlantic, along Florida, et cetera, we are talking about Gulf 
Coast lease sales--not the Eastern Gulf--about the Central and 
Western Gulf. I have a letter here from the Governors. It 
includes the Governor of Alaska, but the Governors of 
Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and Texas. They want those 
lease sales. There was no mess to clean up there because it 
employs tens of thousands of Americans. And so, I would like to 
submit this for the record, and I assume that it is, even 
though my Chair has stepped out for a second. And I see that 
the powers that be are nodding their heads yes.
    [Letter from the Governors of Alaska, Mississippi, 
Louisiana, Alabama, and Texas follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    Senator Cassidy. So the idea that there would be some sort 
of objection in the Gulf Coast to a lease sale is certainly not 
held up by these Governors. And I think that the Chairman's 
point that you have waited to the last possible moment to put 
in the first stage when normally everything else would have 
been done by the date that you are releasing the first stage, 
is again, telling.
    So for the person who is watching, Madam Secretary, is it 
more--so, you have mentioned climate several times, and I know 
for the Administration, the concern about emissions is top. 
Here comes fossil fuel development. Here comes lowering the 
price of gas, and climate is top. Okay, that is a priority. We 
can accept that priority. Is it more environmentally friendly 
to develop and produce oil and gas resources off the coast of 
Louisiana, or is it more environmentally friendly to develop 
those resources say, in Venezuela, or in another country abroad 
in terms of emissions, in terms of climate?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, what I can say is that I think 
here in our country we care deeply about workers.
    Senator Cassidy. But that is not my question. My question 
is, what has the lowest emissions profile, using Louisiana or 
American workers in the Outer Continental Shelf off the Gulf, 
with American companies and American regulations or Venezuelan 
standards and Venezuelan crude?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, I am not an economist or an 
engineer or a scientist, but with respect----
    Senator Cassidy. I am almost out of time, and I get a sense 
that this question is not going to be answered 
straightforwardly, no offense. There is a national lab which 
has determined that the emission profile of developing oil and 
gas off the coast of Louisiana is the lowest in the world for 
that oil which is processed in Louisiana.
    Hold up the second one, please.
    [The chart referred to follows:]
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    Senator Cassidy. Yet these are the countries that we are 
asking to produce oil and gas as opposed to us with our workers 
and our lowest standards. Now, this is the crazy thing--if you 
are concerned about climate, you should be producing in 
Louisiana.
    Lastly, Mr. Beaudreau, you had mentioned that production is 
now higher. That is not true in the Gulf of Mexico. In the Gulf 
of Mexico, relative to when this Administration took office, we 
are down about 300,000 barrels a day in the EIA literature from 
February. Now, that is a pretty significant decrease--300,000 
barrels a day. Maybe you have something later than what is 
online with EIA, but this Administration's all-points-assault 
on American oil and gas production is hurting that person who 
is watching on C-SPAN at home, it is hurting the jobs being 
created, and it is hurting the international environment.
    And with that, I yield.
    Mr. Beaudreau. Chairman, can I address the last point from 
Senator Cassidy?
    The Chairman. Please do.
    Mr. Beaudreau. Just in a matter of statistics. In calendar 
year 2020, there were about 615 million barrels of oil produced 
in the Gulf of Mexico. In calendar year 2021, there were 628 
million barrels. So, production, far from, you know, blocking 
production, we have seen production both onshore and offshore 
increase on public lands during this Administration.
    Senator Cassidy. Mr. Beaudreau, can I respond that?
    The Chairman. Please.
    Senator Cassidy. That is being a little disingenuous, and 
it is kind of typical of this conversation. There was a huge 
decrease when COVID hit, and so you are factoring in those 
lowest months when COVID hit. Boom. And production fell all 
over, and now you are saying, but the next year we did better. 
But we had an artificial low. If you want to look at month-to-
month, in January 2020 there was 1,988,000 barrels of oil 
produced per month in the Gulf. And then, now, at least 
February, the latest numbers I have, is 1,615,000. Now, that 
takes out that COVID lull and it just looks at, kind of, okay, 
economy back, what is happening? Mine seems a more accurate 
analysis.
    Mr. Beaudreau. I mean, if the hypothesis is that the 
Administration is doing everything it can to block and prevent 
production, the data does not bear that out.
    Senator Cassidy. I disagree with that and I can show my 
first poster again, but we will have to agree to disagree.
    The Chairman. Senator Kelly.
    Senator Kelly. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    And Senator Cassidy, as an engineer and somebody who looked 
at the data, I can confirm that the amount of carbon that 
results from production offshore from Louisiana is a lot less 
than what comes from Venezuela.
    So, Secretary Haaland, I want to thank you for today's 
announcement that the Department will produce a draft plan for 
the offshore oil and gas leasing program. In some parts of 
Arizona, the price of a gallon of gas is now above $5 a gallon, 
well above the national average--too expensive for hardworking 
families that have to commute to work and take their kids to 
school and struggle to buy medicine and groceries. As Chairman 
Manchin mentioned in his opening remarks, the two of us, 
Senator Manchin and I, wrote a letter to the President urging 
him to develop the next five-year plan for offshore oil 
development in the Gulf of Mexico. These five-year programs, as 
you know, Madam Secretary, are important because they designate 
which areas are open to development and they send a signal to 
the market as well and to investors that the Federal Government 
has a framework in place for approving future projects. Your 
announcement that you will produce a draft five-year offshore 
plan next month is helpful. How soon will we get a finalized 
plan for the Department of the Interior?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you for the question, Senator, and 
as I mentioned earlier, we are working expeditiously to move 
this forward. I know my team is. I won't go through all the 
steps, but we essentially have to start from scratch on this 
issue. We--there are several other steps beside--after the 
draft that comes out on June 30th. That would be followed by a 
90-day public comment period, followed by another final 
programmatic EIS that could be adopted 60 days later. We are 
happy to keep you updated on our progress on this issue, and we 
will be happy to keep you updated.
    Senator Kelly. So, based on the 90 days, plus the 60 days, 
it looks like the earliest would be November 30th. Is there any 
way to accelerate that?
    Secretary Haaland. As I mentioned, we are working 
expeditiously.
    Senator Kelly. Right. Thank you, Madam Secretary.
    I want to transition a little bit to drought and water in 
the West. We are experiencing the worst drought in 1,200 years 
and it has been going on for two decades, and the supply of the 
Colorado River water is, you know, tightening faster than 
experts predicted. And we have, already in Arizona, curtailed 
about a third of our share, voluntarily, of Colorado River 
water. Lake Powell is so low that the Glen Canyon Dam is 
getting close to not being able to generate power anymore. That 
energy, renewable energy, goes to five million people in six 
states, and the Department of the Interior budget request for 
drought contingency operations in the Basin totals $18.7 
million. That funding would be used for water conservation and 
fallowing of land to stabilize water levels in Lake Powell and 
Lake Mead.
    The President's request for drought contingency operations 
is simply not enough. $18.7 million is not enough money for 
this. Can you work with us to reexamine this budget item?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, we are always, always happy to 
work with you, and I do want to, yes, recognize how terrible 
this drought is. I am from New Mexico and you see the fires 
that are happening because of it. So, yes, we are always more 
than happy to work with you.
    Senator Kelly. Yes, we are on the verge of another horrible 
fire season as well. I know in New Mexico, you had the first or 
second worst fire in the state's history here that was just 
burning a couple weeks ago. At the time that that fire was 
burning, we had three major fires in the State of Arizona. You 
know, this is related to, you know, how dry our states are. We 
have to solve this water problem. I mean, it is not going to 
solve itself, so we just cannot hope for this drought to end, 
and we need more help from the Administration. So, thank you, 
Madam Secretary.
    The Chairman. Senator Lee.
    Senator Lee. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Secretary Haaland, I understand you will be in Utah next 
week for the signing of the Navajo Water Rights Agreement. I 
want to thank you for your work on that issue and your 
collaboration on these and many other issues.
    Madam Secretary, in January 2021, shortly after he took 
office, President Biden told the American public that he was 
placing this moratorium on oil and gas leasing and informed 
them that it would be contingent upon a report to be produced 
by your Department, the Department of the Interior, regarding 
the oil and gas leasing program. Now, a couple things have 
happened since then. One is that the report has been produced 
and released by your Department. The other is that there has 
been a court order concluding that the President lacked the 
authority to issue this moratorium to begin with, and your 
Department chose not to appeal that court ruling.
    So let me ask you this. In light of this, does the 
President want to continue the oil and gas leasing moratorium?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, there is not a moratorium.
    Senator Lee. Okay, there is not one, so you are saying he 
does not want to continue one.
    Now, is it important, some might suggest, that leasing is 
resumed. Well, that kind of assumes facts not in evidence. 
Number one, offshore leasing has not resumed, and you have cut 
onshore leasing by 80 percent, and at the same time, imposed a 
50 percent royalty hike, which will of course be passed on to 
American consumers in the midst of an energy crisis in which 
they are tired of paying $5, soon to be $6 gas. So, would you 
advise the President to reinstate the oil and gas leasing 
moratorium? Yes or no?
    Secretary Haaland. No. I mean, there was a pause. There was 
not a moratorium. There is not a moratorium now.
    Senator Lee. Okay, okay. So there is a pause. There is not 
a moratorium now, but it seems to me like there is a de facto 
moratorium. No leasing going on offshore, and onshore has been 
restricted by 80 percent, with the further discouragement 
provided by a 50 percent royalty increase passed on to 
consumers who are tired of paying $5, soon to be $6 a gallon 
gas. We have seen this pattern of attacks on the oil and gas 
industry, and just last week, the Department canceled three 
scheduled auctions that would have opened up space in Alaska's 
Cook Inlet and the Gulf of Mexico for energy production.
    Now, a couple of interesting things about this. Gina 
McCarthy, the White House Climate Advisor, told a CBS reporter 
that an offshore lease sale had been canceled. She did so 
before the cancellation was even made public. Did you authorize 
Ms. McCarthy to make that statement--that announcement?
    Secretary Haaland. I don't believe that I spoke with Ms. 
McCarthy that day.
    Senator Lee. So you did not authorize it.
    Now, just last month, Ms. McCarthy also told MSNBC that, 
``President Biden remains absolutely committed to not moving 
forward with additional drilling on public lands.'' Do you 
agree with Ms. McCarthy as to that statement? Yes or no.
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, I am working to lead the 
Department of the Interior.
    Senator Lee. I get that, but do you agree with the 
statement or not?
    Secretary Haaland. I don't know. I mean, I don't--I did not 
speak with Ms. McCarthy. I do not speak with them about any 
statements that they make.
    Senator Lee. I did not ask that. I asked whether you agreed 
with it, and your answer is you don't know. A perfectly 
legitimate answer, I suppose, but troubling in some ways.
    Now, with respect to the Cook Inlet lease, which was 
canceled, your Department--the Department of the Interior--
cited ``lack of industry interest'' in that lease. Now, it 
seems to me that industry interest cannot really, reasonably be 
gauged or gauged at all until the extent or the value of the 
actual bids are made clear. So, does this mean you are going to 
force companies to tip their hand--show their cards--every time 
they want to pursue a leasing opportunity?
    Secretary Haaland. Well, I think it is our job to make sure 
that we are reaching out to companies, that we are engaging 
their interest by speaking with them and if there is no 
interest then it does not make sense to move forward.
    Senator Lee. Mr. Beaudreau, the Cook Inlet lease, yes or 
no, would be a relatively low-producing lease, correct?
    Mr. Beaudreau. So, I grew up looking out on Cook Inlet and 
I will just say there is a long history of leases--lease 
potential, lease sales in Cook Inlet being delayed or canceled.
    Senator Lee. Low-producing? High-producing?
    Okay. Not at all responsive to my question. The answer is, 
relative to others, it is a relatively small one. But 
interestingly enough, the Department of the Interior determined 
that its draft EIS concluded that by not offering even this 
relatively small lease in the Cook Inlet, oil prices would rise 
by about one percent. Now, this is your Department concluding 
that oil prices would rise by about one cent per barrel. Now, 
it withheld those leases anyway, while we are in the midst of 
an energy crisis. Americans tired of paying $5 a gallon gas, 
soon to be $6 a gallon gas. I read a report this morning 
indicating that many gas companies are recalibrating their 
registers so that they can actually keep up with the charges of 
$10 dollar or more a gallon gas.
    But the Gulf leases are much, much larger. They are huge. 
Did the Department conduct an analysis of how much higher oil 
prices would go as a result of the cancellation of those Gulf 
leases?
    Madam Secretary, yes, or no?
    Secretary Haaland. I would be happy to get you that answer, 
Senator. I could not tell you at the moment.
    Senator Lee. Okay.
    Can I ask one more follow-up question? It will be very 
brief.
    In January, a federal judge invalidated Lease Sale 257 
based on your Department--the Department of the Interior--doing 
insufficient environmental analysis. Now, you chose not to 
appeal that decision, so none of those leases will be awarded 
or drilled. And again, as I look at this, and as a long-time 
appellate lawyer, I suspect that it is likely one of two 
explanations. It is either you were happy with the result, you 
liked the result, or alternatively, you knew that the 
environmental work that your Department had done on this was 
sloppy. So, which was it?
    Secretary Haaland. Well, what I could say about that is 
that our solicitors, they consult with the Department of 
Justice on these issues and they make the determination on 
whether an appeal should take place.
    Senator Lee. We have a Department that is determined to not 
allow oil and gas leasing. They have hiked royalties. They have 
taken things out of eligibility for leasing. This is coming at 
great expense to the American people who are paying dearly for 
it. The American people deserve better.
    The Chairman. Senator.
    Senator Lee. Thank you.
    The Chairman. Thank you, Senator.
    Senator Hickenlooper.
    Senator Hickenlooper. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
    And Secretary Haaland, I can only imagine the difficulty as 
someone who served locally from the State of New Mexico and 
then served for this country and Congress to be on the 
receiving end of such pointed questions when any appointed 
person knows it is always a difficult balance of how to 
interpret what the White House or others are saying. So, I feel 
remarkable empathy for the process going forward.
    But it doesn't make me want to stop about the U.S. 
Geological Survey and the 23 percent, which I was going to say, 
is not enough of an increase. I am just kidding. Yes, I think 
it is a long overdue increase. And I think as we are going 
through this great energy transition, I think what Senator Lee 
and so many people are concerned about, and I think there is an 
urgency on most of this Committee to make sure we have a 
balanced approach, because as we get to a clean energy economy 
as quickly as we can, we want to make sure that we don't 
balance that on the backs of working people who can't afford to 
spend $100 or even $80 to fill up their cars.
    Another parallel of this is essential minerals, what we 
call critical minerals. They are hard to find here. We are 
heavily reliant on imports, as you know. Somehow, we need to 
decrease our reliance on foreign countries and figure out how 
to improve our domestic supply chain. I saw that the budget 
request within the U.S. Geological Survey is for supply chain 
research related to critical minerals. And I realize you are 
not going to be able to give all the details, and Mr. 
Beaudreau, you maybe can help on this. But I was curious as to 
what that looks like. How can the Department of the Interior 
help bolster our domestic critical minerals supply chain?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you for asking that, Senator. And 
I just, first I just want to say that I recognize how difficult 
times are for people. I was a single mom, and so I understand 
what everyone is talking about. Thank you for letting me say 
that.
    The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law made a major investment 
in the U.S. Geological Survey's Earth MRI program, and that 
would be spending of $320 million over five years. The 
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law also set a ten-year initial goal 
for that program, the Earth MRI. We expect to have a map of the 
majority of areas believed to have subsurface critical mineral 
potential. During that time, or within that time, we will 
develop then a first generation national mine waste inventory. 
So we are working. I also mentioned earlier the Interagency 
Working Group that wants to move the efficiency of that 
forward.
    And I don't know if Tommy would like to say anything.
    Mr. Beaudreau. No, I agree. It is, as directed by the 
President, one of the primary goals of the Interagency Working 
Group is to move forward on domestic sourcing, including 
through mining, but also through new technology development, as 
well as recycling to source these materials. It is also--and 
you know, I know you know this better than anyone, Senator 
Hickenlooper--part of the challenge is being saddled with the 
1872 Mining Law. And with renewable energy, we can have the 
leasing program that deconflicts potential resources from 
tribal conflicts, wildlife conflicts, et cetera. We are not 
able to do that under the 1872 Mining Law.
    So one of the things we will be working with Congress on is 
to modernize the law. You know, not every century--maybe every 
other century--we should take a look at those laws and update 
them.
    Senator Hickenlooper. I think you all have some eager 
participants here.
    Secretary Haaland, the BLM might be remiss if I did not 
talk about your efforts, and I know there is progress being 
made, and again, Mr. Beaudreau, you could chime in. But the 
expanded leadership in Grand Junction's Western Headquarters 
among, you know, their--we want to make sure that there was--
well, you are making sure there is an adequate presence in 
Washington, DC balanced with that expanded leadership in Grand 
Junction's Western Headquarters. How is the DOI going to be 
able to offer concrete information on not just the number of 
employees, but the leadership positions at the Grand Junction 
Western Headquarters as we go forward.
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you, Senator and I know we have 
talked about this a number of times and I have always been so 
happy to visit Colorado when I have had those opportunities. 
And you know, I traveled to Grand Junction and I had a meeting 
with the employees there in person over the Internet because we 
were still in COVID. But you probably know that the BLM started 
an employee advisory group. They are working right now to make 
those recommendations for all the potential positions for the 
Western Headquarters. We will absolutely be reviewing those 
recommendations soon and expect to be able to announce those 
roles and possibly the numbers sometime in the near future.
    If you want to reach out to us anytime, we are happy to 
give you and update on where we are on that. And I think we are 
in pretty close contact with your staff in your office.
    Senator Hickenlooper. I think your staff is probably tired 
of our phone calls, but we do appreciate your visits, multiple 
visits. Two visits to Colorado were warmly received by 
Republicans and Democrats. I think your willingness to go out 
to Grand Junction and to meet with people in their own town and 
their own home really spoke volumes. It was time very well 
spent. We appreciate it.
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you.
    Senator Hickenlooper. I yield back to the Chair.
    The Chairman. Thank you, Senator.
    Senator Hyde-Smith.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you 
for being here today.
    And being the Senator from Mississippi, I, too, want to 
talk about the Gulf of Mexico. I am in very, very close contact 
with the producers down there and the companies that are 
concerned about these leases. And you know, offshore oil and 
gas production in the Gulf of Mexico has proven so many times 
that it is the cleanest on the planet due to the stringent 
environmental safety standards that we have to meet down there. 
It provides 15 percent of the U.S. production and it is a 
critical source of reliable and affordable energy. So, despite 
these benefits, the leases required by law are being canceled 
at a time when our nation is suffering from record high 
gasoline and diesel prices. And at the same time, President 
Biden claims his Administration's policies are not holding back 
domestic energy production. And you know, we have charts of the 
decline of the Gulf of Mexico--five percent since January 2021.
    [The chart referred to follows:]
    [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Senator Hyde-Smith. So, my question to you, Madam 
Secretary, is what does your Department have against utilizing 
Gulf of Mexico production for domestic energy? This makes no 
sense whatsoever. So, can you just explain to me what your 
Department has against utilizing this?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, we are perfectly moving forward 
on all of the work that we have to. We do not prioritize, you 
know, one lease over the other or one area over the other. I am 
not exactly sure--we do not have anything against the Gulf of 
Mexico.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. Why were the two leases canceled just 
the week before last? Why were those two leases canceled?
    Secretary Haaland. Are you--I am not sure. Are you----
    Senator Hyde-Smith. The same time the Alaskan lease was 
canceled. You canceled three--two from the Gulf of Mexico and 
one from Alaska. Why were the two in the Gulf of Mexico 
canceled?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you, Senator. It was likely 
because of the conflicting litigation that is happening. Is 
that what--I believe that is what you could be talking about. 
In the case of the two Gulf lease sales, conflicting litigation 
made it extremely difficult to move forward given the legal 
parameters that we were trying to deal with, the timelines and 
so forth.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. So are you willing to work to improve 
this--this decline of five percent since 2021? Do you expect to 
increase those leases in the Gulf of Mexico?
    Secretary Haaland. I know that we are working hard to--as I 
mentioned many times, even when I was before this Committee 
during my confirmation hearing, we are working very hard to 
balance the use of public lands, knowing that they are public 
and they belong to every single American. Also, we know that we 
are working hard with the fossil fuel programs to take climate 
change into account. I appreciate all of the information from 
you and Senator Cassidy about the durability and the cleanness 
of the Gulf of Mexico oil. I am more than happy to make sure 
that we continue to work with your office moving forward.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. Okay, I am going to get on to my next 
question then.
    The piece that was passed along--we got a hold of that 
early this morning. Christopher got a hold of that and your 
Department informed my staff this morning that it would release 
the draft proposal on June 30th, and you know, I suppose that 
that should be good news, but I am just interested whether or 
not--is this an admission that your Department will fail to 
meet the June 30th deadline for the final five-year program?
    Secretary Haaland. Well, considering the fact that we 
essentially had to start from scratch on this program, as we 
mentioned, the previous Administration stopped in 2018 and did 
not do any more work on it. So we picked that up when we got 
into office.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. But I mean, is this an admission that 
you are not going to meet that final draft deadline of June 
30th? That is a yes or no.
    Secretary Haaland. Yes. The final draft will not be out by 
June 30th.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. Okay. And I have one minute left.
    The White House recently stated that the President's policy 
is to ban additional leasing, and that is from an April 19th 
statement from the White House Press Secretary at that time--
``It is not in line with the President's policy, which is to 
ban additional leasing.'' And we have seen the obvious 
detrimental effects that this misguided policy is having on all 
American families. Does the Interior Department agree with such 
a policy?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, what I could say is that I am 
guided by the law----
    Senator Hyde-Smith. Okay, and it is a clear violation of 
your Department's requirement to prepare and maintain a five-
year program for the offshore leasing and development. So if 
you agree with the law, are you saying that you are in 
compliance with this now?
    Secretary Haaland. We are working on it given the fact of 
the conflicting litigation that we had, of the fact that the 
process was stopped in 2018 for three years, and that we had to 
pick it back up again.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. My time is out. Thank you, Mr. 
Chairman.
    The Chairman. Thank you.
    And Senator King.
    Senator King. I want to return to the budget.
    [Laughter.]
    Senator King. As I recall----
    Senator Barrasso. It's not a return. You are the first one.
    [Laughter.]
    Senator King [continuing]. That was the point of this 
hearing.
    The Chairman. Start it off.
    Senator King. Okay, yes. Okay, point one is quit deferring 
maintenance in the national parks. The budget that you propose, 
happy you proposed it, but it is $2.8 billion for $400 billion 
worth of assets? That is less than one percent. The general 
industry standard is two to four percent of value for 
maintenance. We went through a lot of effort, time, and 
struggle to pass the bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act, a 
big part of which was to tackle deferred maintenance. But let's 
stop digging the hole, okay? So I hope that what you can do is 
come back with a revised request or work with us to increase 
the maintenance budget because it is not adequate. $2.8 billion 
on $400 billion worth of assets is not adequate, and it is 
pretty frustrating, as someone who really worked hard on the 
Great American Outdoors Act, to see the Administration 
continuing a pattern of--and I am not blaming this 
Administration, this goes back 30 years, 40 years, but to 
continue a pattern of underfunding maintenance, and therefore, 
we are going to have to do this again at some point in the 
future. I don't want to do that. Let's do our maintenance, as 
we should, right now.
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you.
    Senator King. Second point--National Park Service 
staffing--there are increases in the budget, but again, they 
are not adequate. Senator Daines and I have made a 
recommendation that there should be 23,000 full time 
equivalents. That is based on visitation rates and historical 
visitation rates. The problem is, visitation keeps going up and 
staffing is staying the same. That is not fair to the visitors. 
It is not fair to the Park Service staff that are being 
stressed and overworked. I had a chart. I did not bring it 
today, but at Yellowstone, for example, staffing is pretty much 
the same as it was in 2011. Attendance is almost double. And 
this is true at Acadia. It is true at Yosemite. It is true 
across the country.
    So that is the second point, is I would like to work with 
you on increasing staffing numbers because, again, it is not 
fair to the visitors and to the staff to put them in that 
position. I hope you will work with me on that.
    Secretary Haaland. Absolutely. Yes, we absolutely agree. I 
have traveled to a number of national parks across the country, 
and it is a similar story in many places, so thank you. I mean, 
I am happy that people are getting out to our national parks, 
so we need to make sure we are supporting that.
    Senator King. I am too, but we have to maintain them.
    Secretary Haaland. Yes.
    Senator King. And have them adequately staffed in order to 
maintain the experience.
    Final point, following the leadership of my other 
colleagues, I am going to depart from the budget for a minute. 
Offshore wind is an enormously important potential energy 
source. Virtually all, if not all of the offshore wind 
proposals that are out there have one thing in common--they are 
not really offshore wind. They are onshore wind in the water. 
In other words, they go to the ground. The towers go into the 
seabed. The University of Maine has been working for 14 years 
to develop a proposal for a floating offshore wind capacity, 
which could be an enormous breakthrough because it opens up a 
much bigger area for potential offshore wind development.
    They have a proposal that they have been working with the 
Department of Energy on for many years. The Department of 
Energy has made a significant investment. This is a technical 
matter and perhaps we need to talk to your counsel, but Senator 
Collins and I wrote to you about this project and the response 
was, well, we are working on it, but we have to issue a request 
for other proposals because under the statute we have to look 
for competition.
    The question is, what is the meaning of the word 
competition? We believe it is competition for a research array, 
which is what this project is. Not a commercial array, a 
research array, and we hope that that can be expedited. This 
is, I believe, one of the most important energy independence, 
clean energy projects in the country or in the world because 
offshore wind that is on a floating platform would be an 
enormous breakthrough. So I hope that you will go back and talk 
to the people in the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management about 
expediting this process, following the statute to be sure, but 
not opening it up to a lengthy, competitive project for 
commercial use, which is not what this project is.
    Secretary Haaland. I understand. Thank you, Senator. I will 
absolutely take that message back to BOEM.
    Senator King. And I just want you to know that Senator 
Collins and I are absolutely committed to this project because 
we want to do the research. Maine has the highest percentage of 
fisheries related to income of any state in the country. One of 
the things we want to know is, what is the impact on fisheries? 
Our fishing community is concerned about that. The only way we 
are going to know this is if we can do the research necessary. 
And again, that is one of the reasons we want to move forward 
with this. So, I appreciate your commitment. I am going to hold 
you to it.
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you, yes, and we are committed to 
offshore wind. In fact, we have been working extremely hard and 
have had some tremendous success in offshore wind projects 
moving forward. I was in California, and they were also talking 
about floating wind turbines that they would tow out to the 
middle of the ocean. So I am happy to see that technology and 
that research moving forward, and appreciate your interest in 
it. I will make sure that I speak with Amanda about this issue.
    Senator King. Thank you. We are ready to do it, and we 
would really like to see an acceleration of the process within 
the constraints of the statute. Thank you.
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you.
    Senator King. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    The Chairman. Senator Murkowski.
    Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Madam Secretary, I think it is important that I am here as 
the last member of this Committee to ask my questions because 
so much of what my colleagues have hit on unfortunately comes 
back to my home State of Alaska. The front page of the 
Anchorage Daily News this morning talks about high fuel costs. 
The village of Noatak is paying $15.99 for fuel. Their stove 
oil is now at $16.47. Throughout Alaska, we are above $5 a 
gallon, but this is not just Alaska. Ours are just more 
extreme. And as you know, it has an impact on the most 
vulnerable.
    Unfortunately, this headline follows the headline earlier 
this past week with the announcement of the cancellation of the 
Cook Inlet leases, and again, if you are concerned about your 
energy prices, and you are one of the 400,000 people that live 
in the South Central area that rely on natural gas coming out 
of Cook Inlet, and now we are seeing the articles following 
about how the producers are going to be able to fulfill the 
contracts for natural gas for people there in that region. They 
are wondering what is going to happen on that front. But they 
know that this news follows what we have seen with the actions 
from the Biden Administration with regards to the NPRA, and 
basically taking half of the NPRA offline. Of course, this 
follows the news from the very early days of the Biden 
Administration, when the ANWR leases that we had worked so hard 
to help facilitate were pulled.
    This follows the news with regards to the roadless, 
limiting the opportunity for economic development in the 
southeastern part of the state. Just yesterday, in the 
Anchorage Daily News, is an article, the Feds are suing the 
State of Alaska over subsistence--unprecedented to have this 
federal litigation against the State of Alaska. And it just, it 
is kind of this cumulative, where, again, you have to 
understand where the average Alaskan is looking at the news. 
They are seeing what they are paying. And they are saying this 
makes no sense whatsoever. We can understand if there is an 
administration that has a keen focus on climate, and we 
appreciate the issues related to climate and what we need to be 
doing to address matters of emission. But what's happening in 
the State of Alaska is, people are being driven out of their 
homes, driven out of their communities, and driven out of the 
state because of these policies that clearly appear to shut 
down energy production in a resource-rich state.
    I want to ask about the Cook Inlet leases and about the 
Ambler project. You have cited that the Cook Inlet leases were 
canceled because of lack of interest from the industry during 
the scoping and the draft EIS period. And yet, your Department 
told my office that this decision was based off of lack of 
industry comment during the scoping period, which took place in 
September 2020, when we were in the middle of a pandemic, when 
oil was $40 a barrel, natural gas was a buck ninety-two. The 
commentary that we have received since this announcement from 
the state oil and gas association, the resource development 
council, the State of Alaska, and the most significant producer 
in the inlet, is that they submitted their comments. They 
submitted their interest and it appears that those were not 
considered.
    Can you share with me what kind of a reach-out the 
Department actually did to determine a level of interest in 
Cook Inlet?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you for the question, Senator. It 
is my understanding that no specific companies expressed 
interest in the sale, both over 2020 and 2021, when oil prices 
had essentially recovered from the COVID impact. And while 
those associations did comment, only specific companies bid on 
the leases, and that is a key indication to the team of the 
interest in the area.
    Senator Murkowski. And again, I think that this would 
follow, I think it was Senator Lee who might have mentioned the 
point that if there is not an opportunity to know whether these 
are even going to materialize, it makes it difficult to provide 
for comment.
    I am close on time and I know we have votes that have 
already started. I want to ask you about the Ambler Road 
because this is something that we had several members of the 
Committee speak to--the issue of critical minerals. Senator 
Cantwell and Senator Hickenlooper have raised it. The 
Administration has been very open in embracing the fact that 
this country needs to be producing more of our critical 
minerals. I could not agree more. But on the same day that the 
President lays down his executive order on minerals, your 
Department pushed to reopen the record of decision for the 
Ambler project that, while this is not a mine, this would 
provide access to a mining district. And then shortly 
thereafter, BLM suspends the project's right-of-way agreement, 
which was granted back in 2021. And now this week, the courts 
have granted your Department's request to go back and do more 
NEPA analysis.
    AIDEA applied for the Ambler right of way in 2015. The NEPA 
review and the ANILCA 810 analysis spanned two 
administrations--nearly six decades out there. And now it feels 
that we are even further behind. We are hearing that DOI is 
considering further actions now to cancel the right-of-way and 
to stall out this project. So we are in a situation where there 
is no amount of assurance that I seem to be able to gain to 
tell Alaskans that BLM is not dragging their feet on this 
project. So I would like your commitment that DOI will stop 
being a roadblock, and ensure this project can move forward. 
Again, this is helping to not only address the nation's needs 
for minerals, but the President himself has stated that this is 
a goal of his Administration. So I need to know that you will 
work with us aggressively, that you will stick to the timelines 
that will allow for this important road to continue, and as the 
court has indicated that they want to require a status report 
every 60 days, and continuing out, I need your commitment that 
you are going to keep us informed with the same briefings at 
these same intervals.
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, we are always happy to reach 
out and be in touch with your office. I know that we are 
consistently in touch with the staff in your office and we are 
more than happy to continue that. If you have issues you want 
to discuss with us, we are happy to do that.
    With respect to Ambler, there were two issues--a 
subsistence analysis and tribal consultation. Those two things 
needed to be done correctly, and so that is what we are working 
on. I appreciate that. We will absolutely be in touch with you 
on this issue.
    Senator Murkowski. I would ask, also, that you would look 
very carefully as to the activity that can be conducted during 
this limited field season coming up. There are activities that 
result in no disturbance that I would hope that the 
Department--the BLM--would be working with those to help 
facilitate that.
    The Chairman. Thank you, Senator.
    Senator Hirono.
    Senator Hirono. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Welcome, Madam Secretary. Mahalo, as we say in Hawaii. 
Thank you for your work to uplift all Native Americans. During 
your time in Congress and now as the Secretary of the Interior, 
you have repeatedly worked to appropriately include Native 
Hawaiians in federal policies, regulations, and law, including 
in the recent report on federal Indian boarding schools, that 
has shown some light on the abuse inflicted on native children 
in an attempt to kill native culture, language, and identity. 
Your work demonstrates the importance of honoring the Federal 
Government's trust responsibility owed to all Native Americans. 
Of course, that includes American Indians, Alaska Natives, and 
Native Hawaiians. I hope that you will continue to improve the 
Department's efforts to appropriately include Native Hawaiians 
in federal programs and the Department's work in the Native 
Hawaiian community.
    In particular, I hope the Department and its partners will 
include Native Hawaiians in its work to address the crisis 
around missing and murdered indigenous people. In honoring 
National Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day 
on May 5th--this May 5th--the Office of Hawaiian Affairs share 
the following information about Hawaii. Native Hawaiian women 
and girls represent 67 percent to 77 percent of sex trafficking 
victims identified in recent studies. Native Hawaiians also 
represent 37 percent of reported child sex trafficking cases. 
These numbers are appalling and unacceptable. I ask you to join 
me in working together to address this urgent problem and to 
end this abuse against Native Hawaiians.
    Secretary Haaland. Yes, absolutely.
    Senator Hirono. Thank you for your commitment.
    Madam Secretary, I appreciate the funding that the 
Administration is requesting in the FY23 budget to pay for our 
obligations under the Compacts of Free Association. As you 
know, should negotiations not conclude before financial 
assistance provisions of the Compacts expire in 2023 and 2024, 
that financial assistance will end. Thus, there is a sense of 
urgency to completing these negotiations in a timely manner. 
Our Committee recently held a hearing to discuss the nomination 
of Ambassador Cantor to serve as Assistant Secretary of Insular 
and International Affairs. Could you talk briefly about the 
importance of confirming Ambassador Cantor in assuring that the 
Compact negotiations be conducted, concluded, in a timely 
manner, and how else can Congress help the Administration's 
efforts to extend these Compacts?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you so much. And yes, the 
President has nominated an excellent candidate, and we are 
doing all we can to support her confirmation process. I also 
recognize the priority for national security and economic 
reasons as to the compact, and that is why we need to move this 
forward. I met with Ambassador Yun, who is working on this 
issue as well, and he feels very positive that he can move 
forward with it in an expeditious manner.
    It is a priority for us, Senator, and I just want to assure 
you that we are treating it as such.
    Senator Hirono. Thank you, because it is very clear that 
these Compacts are critical aspects of our national security 
and those issues come before the Armed Services Committee, but 
the Compact itself and the negotiations come to you and to the 
State Department, so there is sort of a bifurcation. It is 
really important for everyone to be working together to make 
sure that these Compacts are negotiated fairly and that we live 
up to our obligations to our Compact friends.
    Secretary Haaland. Absolutely.
    Senator Hirono. The DOI's announcement earlier this week 
that over $14 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is 
being directed toward efforts to save our remaining Native 
Hawaiian forest birds, and that was welcome news. In order to 
prevent these species from going extinct, we must control the 
mosquito population that is spreading deadly Avian malaria 
throughout these populations, while also translocating and 
breeding the remaining few Native birds, and unfortunately, as 
in so many of these kinds of situations, time is not on our 
side. Can you discuss how the FY23 budget complements those 
infrastructure funds to ensure that the Department can carry 
out these efforts and also can you discuss how the various 
bureaus--Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, 
U.S. Geological Survey--are all working together to protect 
these species?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you, Senator. And yes, these--your 
forest birds are incredibly important to us. We know how 
important they are to the ecosystem. Everything works together. 
And we are very happy to have partners with which to work to 
create safe havens for the birds. That also means controlling 
the mosquitoes that carry that malaria. We want to establish 
captive populations that would be buying time, finding new 
ground for the birds, new places for them to thrive, and of 
course, developing the next generation tools to eradicate the 
mosquitoes. We absolutely appreciate the cultural importance of 
the birds that you have in Hawaii, and we are working on the 
ground with folks there who know the landscape and who know the 
ecosystem so that we can do the best job possible.
    Senator Hirono. Thank you.
    And Mr. Chairman, it is wonderful to have a Secretary who 
understands the importance of cultural issues and environmental 
protections that are all part and parcel of making sure that we 
pay appropriate attention to these issues.
    And thank you very much, Madam Secretary, for your 
commitment.
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you.
    The Chairman. Thank you, Senator.
    Senator Hirono. Thanks.
    The Chairman. Thank you, Senator.
    Now we are going to go to Senator Barrasso.
    Senator Barrasso. Madam Secretary, honest question--do you 
believe that gas prices are too high?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, I completely understand the 
crunch that so many Americans are under right now. I mean, I am 
thinking back. I have been driving since I was about 18, so it 
is, I know that we have had other, you know, I remember back 
when there were lines at the gas stations and that kind of 
thing. I think that Americans are still recovering from this 
terrible pandemic and there are a lot of other world events 
that are making things difficult for all of us.
    Senator Barrasso. So it sounds like you are unwilling to 
say that gas prices are too high because if you thought they 
are too high, I mean, I just wonder what your Department has 
actually done, specifically, to lessen this terrible pain that 
Americans are suffering under these high gas prices.
    Secretary Haaland. We are doing all we can, Senator. As we 
have mentioned several times today, production on federal lands 
is up. It is a 45 percent increase from 2020, a nine percent 
increase from 2019. We are--I'm sorry, that is new drilling 
that is up. But the production is also up. It is at an all-time 
high, more than a billion barrels.
    Senator Barrasso. Let me switch to the drought that is 
hitting the West, and you mentioned it as well for your home 
state. It is a major issue in the West. On May 3rd, the Bureau 
of Reclamation announced that 500,000 acre-feet of water would 
be released from Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Wyoming. That is 
going to lead to a nine-foot drop in our reservoir's water 
level. The action invokes drought contingency authority agreed 
upon by the Upper Basin states to maintain water surface 
elevations at Lake Powell. All the Reclamation states in the 
West need water--my constituents depend on water for growing 
crops, for raising cattle. They depend on it for tourism. This 
is the lifeblood of these rural communities in the West. These 
are not big cities. These small communities are just as 
important, if not more so important. Please answer yes or no. 
In making decisions regarding water in the West--and you are 
from the West, from New Mexico--can you commit today that you 
will actually prioritize rural communities?
    Secretary Haaland. We prioritize rural communities in every 
way possible, Senator. And if I could just say very quickly 
that my team is in constant contact with those folks in rural 
communities, the tribal governments, local governments, we know 
that we have to make the best decisions possible. There just is 
not enough water.
    Senator Barrasso. In previous testimony----
    Mr. Beaudreau. If I may.
    Senator Barrasso. I do not have the time to do it, but 
thanks, Mr. Beaudreau, I look forward to, if you could submit 
that in writing.
    Secretary Haaland, in previous testimony you have said 
clean energy is a priority for President Biden. American energy 
is clean energy. This chart we have is a chart of the World 
Bank data that shows how much flaring takes place in a country 
for each barrel of oil it produces, and that has been a big 
issue of President Biden.
    [The chart referred to follows:]
    [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T7961.027
    
    Senator Barrasso. As you can see, America is one of the 
most environmentally responsible producers in the world. But 
President Biden, he wants to go to Venezuela. Let's take a 
look. The intensity of the flaring that you and the 
Administration and Democrats on this panel hate and say is 
bad--18 times as much done in Venezuela as is done in the 
United States. The flaring rate in Iran is seven times higher 
than it is in the United States.
    So why is President Biden begging, truly begging our 
enemies for more dirty oil while you limit production of 
cleaner, American oil on public lands at home in America?
    Secretary Haaland. Senators, certainly the decisions such 
as dealing with foreign countries are left to President Biden 
and perhaps the Secretary of State.
    Senator Barrasso. Well, I would recommend then that if he 
continues to talk about this that you clarify for the President 
and clarify his understanding because you are the Secretary of 
the Interior. You have made statements about wanting to produce 
clean energy and it seems that we do a much better job here in 
the United States than any of the rogue nations that President 
Biden seems to be going hat-in-hand to and begging for energy 
to help supply our country with energy we already have right 
here, but your Department and this President and this 
Administration will not allow us to get out of the ground.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    The Chairman. Thank you, Senator.
    I am going to have to go vote. Senator Barrasso has to go 
vote. Senator Hirono will preside. We have Senator Marshall 
coming up next and then we have, probably, Senator Hoeven 
coming back, but Senator Hirono will close out the hearing.
    Let me just say, thank you. Thank you, I know it has been 
tough. It has been a tough one. And we know it, but I think you 
are feeling the frustration we all have. It is just that a lot 
of things do not make sense, and we do want cleaner energy. We 
want a cleaner environment, but we have to use what we have to 
use in the cleanest fashion to show that we can do it better 
than anybody else, but also, we can walk and chew gum. Okay, we 
can continue to go down two paths, investing in the cleaner 
technologies that we need, and making sure what we are 
producing and using now is clean. We just want security and we 
want reliability, but we want to have technology and 
innovation.
    But I want to thank all of you and I appreciate you being 
here and the response. We have always had a great relationship, 
good response. I want to keep that going. We will work through 
all this.
    With that, Senator Hirono, you are in charge.
    Senator Hirono [presiding]. Thank you.
    Senator Marshall.
    Senator Marshall. Okay. Well, thank you, Madam Chair, and I 
want to thank the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Manchin, 
for his leadership, and Ranking Member Barrasso as well. It 
sounds like they have been talking to my friends and family 
back in Kansas, who would certainly agree with everything that 
they have said so far about this issue.
    Madam Secretary, welcome. At a real high level, when you 
are sitting down with your advisors, do you make it--is it the 
goal to make it as hard as possible to drill new oil wells, new 
gas leases on Federal lands? And if that is not the case, when 
different policies are presented to you, does anyone say this 
will make it harder, or this will make it easier for American 
oil to be drilled on Federal lands?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, that--the fact that things are 
harder or easier never enters the conversation. We are working 
hard to make sure that we have a balanced approach to our 
energy and----
    Senator Marshall. So you are telling me that when you are 
having these discussions, they do not tell you whether this is 
going to make it harder or easier for access to new leases?
    Secretary Haaland. No.
    Senator Marshall. Okay. And is it your goal, is it your 
hope that there is more or less drilling on federal lands while 
you are the Secretary of the Interior?
    Secretary Haaland. My goal, as I mentioned, is to have a 
balanced approach to our public lands, to make sure that we are 
doing the best job possible for the American people considering 
that the public lands belong to them.
    Senator Marshall. Does the affordability of energy, the 
cost of gas at the gas pump, the cost of utilities, ever figure 
into any of your decision-making process?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, I know exactly what it is like 
to be poor, quite frankly.
    Senator Marshall. And so do I. I do too, but does it ever 
enter into your policymaking?
    Secretary Haaland. I bring my whole self to the job.
    Senator Marshall. Okay. Your Under Secretary mentioned 
panic a little bit ago. Let me tell you what panic is. Panic is 
$5 a gallon gasoline when you are a single mom with two 
children and you are pregnant and you do not have the gas money 
to get to your OB appointment, and they call me and say, ``I 
can't make it today, doctor, can we just visit over the 
phone?'' Panic is when my son, with two children under the age 
of 15 months, says ``Dad, my utility bill doubled this last 
month.'' Is there a problem out there? That is what panic is. I 
am not sure what the panic was you heard two years ago, but we 
did not hear it in Kansas. I think your left-liberal media was 
digging up panic, but most of the country was not panicked 
then. This is panic. Today is panic. That is what is going on 
across this nation.
    I want to share with you what is creating the high price of 
oil right now, okay? I hope that you realize that it takes a 
year or two for an investment to turn into oil that is going to 
actually go to the refinery. Whenever there is uncertainty, 
folks are not going to invest in a business. If I was going to 
write a book on business, the first chapter would be about 
uncertainty, and the Federal Government specializes in 
uncertainty. And you are doing it with your policies. You offer 
us a lease, you pull it back. These checkerboard leases that we 
talk about, it looks to me like you are purposely picking and 
choosing and making it very hard for which leases that you are 
going to offer. Then, when these companies spend tens of 
millions of dollars to figure out, do we want to bid on it, 
then you pull it away from them. And then the next uncertainty, 
if we buy the lease, can we get a permit to drill? And if we 
get a permit to drill, can we get a permit to get our pipelines 
out there? So all this adds to the uncertainty, and that is 
what's driving up the price.
    The price of oil is reflective of what is going to be 
happening a year from now, not yesterday. That is why we have a 
decreased supply and these companies are not willing to go 
forward because your policies are creating uncertainty. Do you 
understand how your policies are creating uncertainty for 
American businesses?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, thank you very much for letting 
us know the frustration that you are feeling and your 
constituents are feeling, and we understand. And I just want to 
assure you that I am absolutely following the law----
    Senator Marshall. And you don't care about the uncertainty 
and the cost of what you are doing to drive things up.
    I am going to turn to the lesser prairie-chicken really, 
really quickly. We visited about this before and the Department 
is considering listing the lesser prairie-chicken. I would tell 
you in my estimation that it has never been better protected 
before thanks to great help between the government as well as 
the private sector. What do you think the financial impact will 
be on the cost of utilities in Kansas if you list the prairie-
chicken?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, what I would say is that we 
always follow the science and the law on any listing questions 
we recognize, and I just want to say that we really recognize 
the value of the voluntary efforts to this conservation effort 
and appreciate that----
    Senator Marshall. But would you agree with me that listing 
the prairie-chicken will drive up the cost of utilities in 
Kansas?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, as I mentioned before, I am not 
an economist. So I could not answer, truthfully, a question 
like that.
    Senator Marshall. Thank you. I yield back.
    Senator Hirono. Thank you.
    Senator Hoeven.
    Senator Hoeven. Thank you.
    Madam Secretary, thank you for joining us today. This 
Administration, when it came into office, put a moratorium on 
leasing on all federal lands, both onshore and offshore. Now, 
in April, the Administration has said that it would resume 
leasing, but that would only be on 20 percent of the available 
acreage--only 20 percent of the available acreage. And at the 
same time, you increased the royalty fees for production by 50 
percent. Right now, the price of gasoline, average, in the 
country is over $4.50 a gallon. Diesel is another dollar 
higher. There is not a single state in the country where the 
price of a gallon of gas is less than $4, and some of the 
forecasts are that that price could go as high as $6, on 
average, across the country this summer. Think of the impact 
that has on everybody, and it hits low-income people the 
hardest. And that energy cost is not just a cost they pay at 
the pump, that energy cost is in every single product that they 
buy, every day.
    So my question is, why are you not allowing more leasing on 
federal lands to help?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, thank you so much for the 
question, and of course, I have talked a few times during this 
hearing about how much I understand what the majority of 
Americans are going through, so thank you for that. I just want 
to say that we are working toward a balance on our public 
lands. The reforms that we implemented with the last--the 80 
percent that you referred to, was the fact that during climate 
change, of course, that enters the picture. We do not want 
leasing in fragile ecosystems and so forth, but leasing can 
take place near places where infrastructure already exists and 
where there is a potential to find oil.
    As you might know, a lot of leases currently do not really 
have the potential to produce. So we worked very hard to make 
sure that we were offering the lands that we felt would be of 
the most use to the industry.
    Senator Hoeven. Where is the balance when you are not 
allowing any drilling offshore, and where onshore it is only 20 
percent that you are even allowing before we even talk about 
how your regulation is holding up the ability to get permits, 
even on the leases that you have awarded? How is that balance 
at a time when this country desperately needs the energy?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, if I could just say that there 
is more than 20.6 million acres of federal land that oil 
companies have on which to request permits. We have approved 
more than 4,700 drilling permits since President Biden came 
into office, 1,100 in this year alone.
    Senator Hoeven. In many cases though, where they have those 
leases, either you have not approved the permits, and then in 
cases where you have, they are being held up in court, which is 
why you need to continue to make leases available and permit 
them so that they can drill them. The production is going down. 
You understand that, right? In my state alone, we were at 1.5 
million barrels a day. We are now down below 1.1 million 
barrels a day. And on the BLM--and we have BLM land--and on the 
BLM land lease sale that you announced, there are only 600 
acres available in North Dakota. Doesn't that disenfranchise us 
in North Dakota and continue to put people of this country 
under strain at the pump because they cannot get oil and gas 
and are under strain for all the other products that they buy? 
And how is that remotely balanced? And how can you continue to 
say that these leases are available when they are not, for the 
reasons I just articulated?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, I recognize that our country is 
going through an era right now--we are barely coming out of the 
COVID pandemic. There is turmoil around the world. We are doing 
our best to move these issues forward in our Department.
    Senator Hoeven. Excuse me, Madam Secretary, are you willing 
to change what you are doing and make some of these leases 
available?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, I am more than happy to, as I 
said, follow the law to do the work that we need to do, and we 
have been doing it. I want to assure you, we have been doing 
this work.
    Senator Hoeven. The law provides that there is to be energy 
development and leasing on federal lands, onshore and offshore. 
That is what the law provides. Will you make those leases 
available at a time when our country badly needs it?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, we will continue to do our work 
just like we have since we came into this office.
    Senator Hoeven. Which means you are not making those leases 
available?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, with respect to specific 
leases, I am happy to have my staff reach out to you, if that 
is what you would like the answer to.
    Senator Hoeven. Well, I would just submit to you, Madam 
Secretary, that it is very important at this time that we 
produce more energy in this country. This inflation, the price 
of fuel, all these are impacting Americans in a very harsh way, 
and I would ask that you consider that going forward and so 
that we can produce more energy here domestically rather than 
trying to get it, I mean, the Administration has gone to places 
like Venezuela to try to get it. That makes no sense. We need 
to do it here at home and we need your help to do that on the 
federal lands.
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you, Senator.
    Senator Hirono. Thank you, Senator Hoeven.
    Before I close this hearing, I would like to say that 
blaming the Biden Administration for high oil prices ignores 
the fact that oil prices are set in the world market. There is 
Putin. There is Ukraine. There is COVID. During this 
Committee's hearing on energy security in March, we discussed 
the 9,000 lease sales on public lands and 9,000 leases that are 
being unused by oil and gas companies, and the pressure the 
companies feel from Wall Street to focus on stock buybacks 
rather than investing in more production. Let that sink in for 
a while.
    The situation has not changed since March. And in the first 
year of the Biden Administration, companies produced more oil 
from federal lands onshore and offshore than in any year in 
history. And the fact is, as noted by Madam Secretary, oil and 
gas companies have more than 20.6 million acres of federal 
lands under lease on which they are not producing oil and gas. 
Again, let's talk about their focus on stock buybacks rather 
than investing in more production.
    So let's be clear. Putin has a lot to do with the gas price 
hike, and it is hurting families all across the country and 
across the world, and while Putin is to blame, I would say, for 
the drastic hike, we have been dealing with the volatility of 
oil prices for a long time. And as long as we are reliant on 
oil, we will be subject to the OPEC oil cartels and affiliated 
producers, like Russia. Record oil prices in 2008 solidified 
Hawaii's commitment to move toward renewable power and away 
from burning oil. Hawaii got it. We were the most oil import-
dependent state in the entire country. So Hawaii figured out 
that we needed to make a change. So the state is now getting 
over 38 percent of its power from renewable sources with the 
goal of 100 percent renewable power by 2045. So as we debate 
impacts on oil and gas supplies, of Russia's invasion, we also 
need to keep our eyes on making our country much more energy 
self-sufficient in the long term. That is where Hawaii is going 
and that is what the rest of the country should pay attention 
to.
    So, Madam Secretary, thank you very much, and Deputy 
Secretary Beaudreau and Ms. Flanagan, for coming before this 
Committee.
    Members will have until close of business tomorrow to 
submit additional questions for the record.
    The Committee stands adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 12:28 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.]

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