‘We Really Need You To Do Better’: Joe Manchin Tells Bureau Of Land Management Director Point Blank

6 months ago

During a Senate Energy Committee hearing on Thursday, Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) gave opening remarks about the Bureau of Land Management and demanded the agency do more.

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Transcript

00:00This morning the committee is convening to conduct oversight of the Bureau of Land Management also known as BLM

00:04Which is situated within the Department of the Interior. I'd like to welcome

00:08Director Stone Manning back to the committee and thank you for joining us this morning

00:11I also sit on the Armed Services Committee which you know

00:13And that's where I'm going to be going to

00:14Though West Virginia has very little BLM managed lands as compared to other states as chairman of this committee and as an American

00:20I'm always astonished at how much land in the United States is

00:23Managed by the federal government especially in the western states. My sympathy to all of you

00:29In total the BLM is responsible for more than one in every ten acres of land in the United States and

00:35approximately 30% of the nation's minerals

00:37That's approximately 245 million acres of surface land and 700 million acres of subsurface mineral estate

00:45This land together with all the natural resources and beauties is owned by the American people and has been entrusted to the BLM to sustain

00:52Its health diversity and productivity for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations

00:57This includes managing wildfires and drought and protecting and restoring watersheds

01:02Native and recreational fisheries and ecosystems across BLM managed lands

01:06BLM also plays a significant role in providing for our nation's energy and mineral security

01:11Roughly 10% of US oil and gas production occurs on BLM managed lands in fiscal year 23

01:17We produce 516 million barrels of oil from federal onshore lands

01:233.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas

01:27This is why it is so important that the Inflation Reduction Act ensured onshore oil and gas leasing will continue

01:33By tying BLM's authority to issue rights away for solar and wind projects to weather

01:38Substantial oil and gas lease sales are also occurring in public lands and really what it's about is an all-in energy policy using everything

01:45We have in the cleanest fashion, and we're producing this energy more cleanly than ever while also addressing the legacy

01:52Impact on our energy communities through initiatives like the 4.7 billion

01:56Dollars of Congress provided an infrastructure law for the orphan well program, which is managed by the BLM.

02:04I was also pleased to see the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this year finally overturned the executive branch's decade-long

02:12moratorium on new federal coal leasing giving that nearly 40% of our nation's coal comes

02:18From the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana much of its BLM managed lands

02:22But unfortunately the BLM quickly followed that up by choosing no more coal leasing as their preferred option on those federal lands

02:29I guess when you look at the regulations this administration is putting out

02:32It's clear they think that coal won't be needed anymore, which I disagree with

02:36respectfully

02:37But I'm here to tell you what it's actually doing is putting our grid reliability at risk right now

02:42And the problems aren't limited to fossil fuels the administration doesn't want to talk about that

02:47There's nearly a 300 mile transmission project across, Oregon, Idaho

02:51that's been trying for over 18 years to get permitted and

02:55Constructed when complete the 500 kilovolt line would deliver badly needed energy increased liability to the nation's electric grid

03:02But just when the developer thought they were about to cross the finish line

03:06BLM decided to restart the previously completed cultural and historical surveys

03:10I've heard similar challenges with geothermal developers where nearly 30% of their capital is to tied to just

03:17environmental reviews

03:19They simply cannot afford to be stuck in the endless permitting nightmare while the remaining financial support rides on whether

03:24They can ever obtain a permit to start their commercial operations to produce geothermal energy

03:30To show how bad the problem is this chart behind me is based on work from Stanford University

03:35And looked at every single environmental impact statement completed from 2010 to 2018

03:42Across the entire federal government the BLM led more of these EIS's than any other agency

03:48Stanford found that solar is the most frequently litigated and cancelled project type

03:54with wind a close second in terms of cancellation in almost all of these cases the litigants were environmental groups as

04:02Evidenced by the research from Stanford comments submitted to BLM's regulations and feedback

04:06I've heard directly from developers, and it is clear there remains a major challenging permitting energy

04:12projects on BLM managed lands

04:14Regardless, and I say that again regardless of the type of energy that will be produced

04:19Unfortunately the situation for critical minerals on public ends is just as bad

04:24Put that put that up again if you will

04:27I don't know if kind of moving around if you all have been able to see where it's coming from

04:32What's been litigated and what's been cancelled?

04:34and it's astonishing and I think people don't realize we all need permitting reform and

04:40Some people think what helps one group more than the other and it really doesn't

04:43It basically levels a playing field so we can have reliable energy in a grid system that works

04:48Some estimates say that more than 300 new mines will be needed in order to meet projected demand for critical minerals

04:54According to the International Energy Agency

04:56Demand for electricity vehicle batteries will increase from around 340 gigawatt hours today to over

05:033,500 gigawatt hours by 2030

05:05Requiring as many as 50 new lithium mines

05:0841 new nickel mines and 11 new cobalt mines

05:11This demand simply cannot be met to recycling alone and new mines must be built in the US and on BLM managed lands

05:19We directed the BLM in the bipartisan infrastructure law to provide us with a report

05:23On how we can do that and how we can improve and expedite the permitting around our domestic

05:28critical critical mineral supply chain

05:31The report we received which was many months late

05:34Recognized the hard truth the demand for critical minerals will at least double by 2040

05:39But then it clearly failed to meet the requirements set by Congress

05:42It barely contained any concrete recommendations to actually accelerate mine permitting

05:47Instead it calls for more regulations more staff more funding less mining wherever BLM believes permitting will take longer and

05:55multi-year effort to completely

05:57Overhaul the entire mining regulatory system. The report was so bad

06:01in fact that interiors own inspector general found the department failed to meet Congress's direction and

06:06Instructed interior to provide the additional legally required information. We really need you to do better

06:12Director Stowe Manning, I fully appreciate your responsibility to manage our nation's precious resources

06:17I also implore you not to forget your role in our nation's economic and energy security

06:21Now I'm going to recognize Senator Brasso for his opening statement

‘We Really Need You To Do Better’: Joe Manchin Tells Bureau Of Land Management Director Point Blank

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