Development on federal lands. We will hear from state and federal energy officials. This has Natural Resources sub hearing is chaired by paul gosar of arizona. Lands. I ask unanimous consent of the gentleman from arkansas be allowed to sit with the subcommittee and par this will allow us to hear from witnesses and members keep to the schedules. Therefore i ask for unanimous consent that all other members be made part of the hearing records if they are submitted to the clerk by 5 00 p. M. Today. Without objections to order. We can do that now. I ask that theyre not be any type of disruption regarding the testimony getting here today. Its important we respect the decorum and the rules of the house until the public can hear our receipts. The subcommittee will examine oil and gas on federal lands. They are holding a hearing in several weeks and we asked the members reserve all offshore questions for the next hearing. Its owned by all americans and the bureau of Land Management is obligated to responsibly manage these resources. Onshore federal and gas accounts are roughly 20 of americas production and is integral to our nations independence and security. Nonfederal production far outpaces federal production figures due to overwhelming ministration administration burdens. Not only has this administrative but alog of applications, scheme that discourages investment. Its critical we evaluate these obstacles to possess and return a pair return to the American People. There are many factors that lead into this decision. While some may point to low Commodity Prices as a recent come Market Conditions are no excuse for policies or our federal government to uphold obligations. Many operators of federal lands due to unqualified risk and. Elative uncertainty the current is fought with it wasinty and delay often explicitly retracted from the auction. Although the mineral leasing act requires the quarterly lease sales, this requirement has not been forced or years. Once an operator has successfully navigated federal leasing scheme, it must be perceived through the permit to drill or apd review process which can set drilling back over a year. It makes Financial Planning nearly impossible and is a detriment to the locality state and American People. Despite the convocations and inefficiencies of the Previous Administration, we are confident the new administration will the processes. Secretary zinke a, a friend and former member of this committee testified before us last week and shared some of the steps he wants to uphold the mission. In addition to increasing funding, secretary zinke he is committed to improving performance. With that, i now recognize the Ranking Member for his statements. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to couple met all the members of both sides of the aisle for this committee as we thisned doing so well in meeting. I have been bipartisan, constructive, and today will be a little more contentious and i hope that does not end. Too not oppose oil and gas element on public lands. Oppose them calling all the shots that are owned by all americans. Policy doese above not mean we do not set priorities and i am concerned about our priorities. Its only taken five months and nearly every move on energy this administration has made could have come right out of the executive board of the American Petroleum institute or the National Mining association. That may actually be the case given the number of gas and coal occupied thet Environmental Protection agency and the white house. Rules to protect public health, got. Land, air,otect our and water, gone. Rules to protect fish and wildlife, gone. Rules to make sure copies are paying their fair share, gone. The standard seems to be, if the Obama Administration was it in place and if one oil or gas company and played about it, if so, it don. In no place is it more important to balance multiple uses Environmental Protections as well as Economic Development than on americas public lands. This idea of balance, this idea that some areas should be protected while others can be developed is at least in danger now and soon that would be gone too. To quote the statement of the acting assistant secretary, Americas Free markets will help determine where and when Energy Development on public lands is feasible. That means that the idea that these lands which belong to all americans should be managed in a way that will ensure that they are here for our children and our grandchildren. That idea is now gone. Instead the administration is , operating under the idea that the department of the interior should become a service station for the oil and gas industry. Which lands would you like to lease . Where and how fast do you want to drill . What regulations do you want us to repeal . Are these National Monuments getting in your way . Just let us know. The department of interior is apparently here to keep you happy. Secretary zinke paid lip service to the idea of supporting all forms of energy to be in favor of the all of the above policy. But if we look at his budget, it increases oil and gas and coal programs by 34 million while renewables suffer a 15. 3 million cut. In fact, the fossil fuel program increase seems to be the only one in the entire interior budget that has an increase. Weve seen this movie before. Weve seen an administration where Energy Policy was literally written by big oil. During the eight years of the Bush Administration, the only measure of success for the bureau of Land Management was how many drilling permits it could issue. What did we get . Interior Department Officials thrown in jail, regulators doing drugs and literally getting into bed with the people they were supposed to be regulating, and a thirst for mineral revenues that put Safety Standards on the back burner and helped to contribute to the deep water horizon, according to the president ial oil spill commission. When it comes to giving the keys to our public lands to the oil and gas industry, President Trump has made the Bush Administration look bush league. Look, the fact is that oil and Gas Companies are doing just fine on our public lands and in our oceans. Despite the misleading statistics that theyre going to throw around today. Oil statistics really show that Oil Production on public lands is up 59 since 2008. Offshore production is at a record high. Companies have more than 7500 approved drilling permits that theyre not using and 26 million acres of public land under lease to be developed. Shows you from 2008 through right through 2015 the federal onshore Oil Production and how its increased every single year up to 2015. And 2016 was slightly below 2015 but above all the other years. , so in closing, i just want to say our new quest for Energy Dominance, whatever that means, means that never nothing is enough. We must do more. Hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, boating, offroading, grazing and all the use of our public lands are now second to second class oil and gas is dominant. So, mr. Chairman, we have an opportunity on this subcommittee to ensure that energys policies reflect the multiple uses of our public lands for the benefit of all of our constituents, not just the special interests of a few billionaires. Lets not squander it. Mr. Chairman, i just want to say in closing, i understand your out a few your send days ago, the title of this hearing would be focusing on onshore. And i will try to abide by that. However, the title of the hearing was really called examining access to oil and Gas Development on federal lands. And as you know, our outer Continental Shelf is really defined as submerged lands lying seaward of the coastline. This ms. Or macgregor there may be some questions that come up. Chair gosar i thank the gentleman for that clarification. Im going to get now to introducing our witnesses. Miss katherine macgregor. Now im going to yield time to the gentleman from new mexico to introduce the first witness. Rep. Pearce thank you. Id like to introduce ryan flynn whos executive director of the new mexico oil and gas association. As director of that, he has watched the permitting times on our wells increase from around 200 days to get that permit, to something over 400. He was formerly the secretary of new Mexico Environmental Department where he has a strong reputation of balancing Energy Development with responsible environmental stewardship. Ryan, appreciate you being here to testify today. I yield back. Chair gosar thank you. Our next witness is mr. Mark sclochie, dr. Laura nelson. Let me remind the witness that under our Committee Rules they must limit their oral statements to five minutes. But their entire statement will appear in the hearing record. Our microphones are not automatic so youll have to press that little button. And if it will kind of watch upfront the first four minutes , its green, then it will turn yellow. Then when you see red, please summarize. I will let the entire panel testify before we ask questions. This i will recognize ms. Macgregor for her testimony. Welcome back. Ms. Macgregor thank you. I have to say its very good to be back here today. I absolutely loved working here with both majority and may and minority staff. Im currently acting as secretary for land and Minerals Management at the department of the interior. Our responsibility is the management of four bureaus, the office of surface mining, the bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the bureau of safety and Environmental Enforcement and the bureau of lands management. I appreciate the opportunity to testify in the oil and gas program which plays a Critical Role in our Nations Energy economy. The blm manages 200 million surface acres and 700 million sub surface acres. Most of which are located in 12 western states, including alaska. Production was 7 of our nations on shore oil, 10 of our natural gas and 41 of our coal produced domestically. As well as approximately 18,000 megawatts of Renewable Energy. Last year the blm oil and gas , program generated over 1. 56 billion in royalties, rental payments and bonus bids, all of which were shared with states. States and counties in turn use these funds for roads, schools and other important municipal needs. Public lands are integral to the administrations America FirstEnergy Agenda and the priority to maintain u. S. Energy dominance by growing inging by growing Domestic Energy production and sustaining jobs throughout our country. Access to responsible Energy Development on these lands begins with the planning and leasing process. 10 years ago, the blm had nearly 45 million acres under lease. Today we are at 27 million acres. This is nearly identical to the total area currently designated as areas of critical and environmental concern, also known as standing at over 24 million acres. This is nearly 10 of all blm managed lands in the unite. United states. In 2016, they designated a. 2 million acres, the most acreage since 1980. This is one example of designations that limit how public lands may be used. Responsible Energy Production and conservation need not be mutually exclusive. That is why it is vitally important to restore our mission and strike the appropriate balance in on shore leasing that allows for job creation in rural america. This is about restoring balance. Under secretary zinke, the department and the blm have been proactive in prioritizing responsible Energy Production on public lands. Including by secretarial order. Order 3349 aims to remove duplicative burdens on Energy Production. While promoting job growth for hard working american families. Order 3352 will jump start alaskan Energy Production in the National Petroleum reserve alaska, helping to unleash Energy Protection of potential. These efforts have already shown to be effective. Under the secretarys leadership the blm has had more lease sales offered more acreage and , generated more revenue in 2017 than this same time last year. Were only just getting started. The blm plans to hold 14 additional lease sales this is year. Promoting access to public lands does not come without challenges. Im sure that all members of this committee are in close contact with their state and local leaders who is erers who do not hesitate to communicate their frustrations. It is the secretarys goal to restore trust. And improve relationships with our state and local partners. Many of him rely upon the economic revenues that come from responsible Gas Production on public lands in the west. For example the u. S. Census , bureau has found that rural new mexico has one of the highest poverty rates in the country yet rural new mexico is , home to some of the most Promising Oil and natural gas deposits in the entire world. These resources are a tremendous source of jobs, Economic Growth and revenue for these communities. This is why the Administration Remains committed to promoting responsible oil and Gas Production that creates jobs, promote a robust economy and contribute to Americas Energy security. There are a multitude of factors that affect access to federal oil and Gas Resources and the department and the blm are reviewing all of these and taking action where possible to encourage development. And improve efficiencies, without cutting corners on our duties to ensure that these activities are done and environmentally responsible way. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today and i will be happy to answer questions. Chair gosar thank you. I now recognize mr. Flynn for his five minutes. Thank you. Mr. Flynn thank you. Thank you members of the subcommittee and staff. My name is ryan flynn. Im the executive director for the new mexico oil and gas association. Prior to taking over, i was the secretary of environment and Natural Resource trustee in the state of new mexico and worked in State Government for approximately six years, almost six years prior to taking this role. I want to thank representative pearce for recognizing me and i want to recognize him as well. He has been a tremendous leader. His district is home to one of the most resilient and productive oil and gas plays in the world. The great Permian Basin. I want to talk to you a little bit about new mexicos oil and gas industry and talk to you about some challenges to oil and Gas Development on federal lands in new mexico and suggest some opportunities for improving blms operations in new mexico. I want to be very clear that my goal here today is not in any way, shape or form to criticize blm individually. We have had a tremendous working relationship with blm staff and leadership and we look forward to continuing that working relationship moving forward. But like any large agency there are several opportunities for improvement. And i believe the secretary has inherited a difficult situation but he is more than capable and , up to the task for turning things around in a positive direction. New mexicos oil and gas industry is the most important economic industry to the state of new mexico. Last year in 2016, new mexicos oil and gas industry contributed 1. 6 billion to the states federal fund or budget. That equalled roughly 25. 8 of the budget last year. The total budget was around 6. 2 billion. In the last 10 years oil and gas , typically contributes about a third directly to the states general fund. This money goes directly to roads, hospitals, schools, that infrastructure in the state would simply not be possible without the oil and gas industrys contributions. Our industry also employs over 100,000 people in the state of new mexico, a state with about 1. 8 million people. New mexico also has one of the highest poverty rates in the country with almost a quarter of our population living below the federal poverty line. Oil and gas jobs are extremely attractive in our state. The average wage on a rigged is about 75,000 a year. Nationally new mexico is one of the top Energy Producing states in the country, ranking fifth in crude Oil Production and eighth in natural Gas Production. Even during a prolonged period of low prices, new