U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, took another step in her battle against the Environmental Protection Agency, introducing language in a spending bill that would transfer some of the agency's air-permitting authority to the Interior Department in hopes of accelerating Alaska's offshore oil and gas development.
The language would allow the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to regulate air emissions in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. That's the same group that oversees air emissions in the Gulf of Mexico. A leading environmental group said the moves showed that Murkowski is more interested in protecting oil companies than the environment.
Murkowski said the Interior processes the air-emission permits much more efficiently than the EPA. In fact, she created the language after watching oil giant Shell, which hopes to launch exploratory drilling in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas starting next summer, wait five years to obtain EPA operating permits. For projects in the Gulf of Mexico, the Interior issues its air permits in a matter of months, she said.
"We're looking for regularity parity here," Murkowski said. "The two different agencies are both tasked with the same requirements, yet one takes months, the other takes years."
The Center for Biological Diversity said Murkowski snuck the language into the proposed legislation. Shell has been denied permits because it has not yet proposed "a safe and legal Arctic drilling plan," said Rebecca Noblin, the Arizona-based group's Alaska director. The company's latest drilling plan could increase air pollution to levels unsafe for Arctic communities, she said.
The accusations are not true, said Curtis Smith, Shell's spokesman in Alaska. EPA experts have "concluded that Shell's emissions will not adversely impact the local air ... or the closest local stakeholders, who are roughly 70 miles away," said Smith. "We agree with that analysis and believe our air permits will be validated once (EPA's) appeals process runs its course."
An EPA spokesman did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Thursday. The separate federal oversight for the Gulf of Mexico and other U.S. offshore waters came about in 1990 following amendments to the Clean Air Act, Murkowski said. At that time, air permitting for oil and gas projects in the nation's outer continental shelf switched from the Interior Department to the EPA, except in the Gulf of Mexico.
Former U.S. Sen. J. Bennett Johnston, a Louisiana Democrat, fought to keep air emissions from Gulf of Mexico projects under the Interior's oversight, said Murkowski.
Murkowski's language is included in a stand-alone Interior spending bill in the House. It's soon expected to be introduced in the Senate in an omnibus spending bill, said Robert Dillon, Republican spokesman for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The language comes after months of negotiations involving Murkowski, congressional leaders and the White House, Dillon said.
EPA takes longer for a variety of reasons, including limited staffing and expertise, Murkowski said. Lawsuits from environmental groups and reviews by the agency's Environmental Appeals Board have also slowed Shell's plans.
The Interior spending bills include additional money for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to process the permits, said Murkowski. On the other hand, EPA's budget will be squeezed. "If we're looking at having an efficient process, it's important an agency have the resources to do it," she said.
U.S. Sen Mark Begich issued his own statement applauding the language. He's been arguing for the transfer as well, he said. "Companies with projects in the Arctic are at a competitive disadvantage under the EPA," Begich said. "It's time to move all air permitting under the Interior Department."
Contact Alex DeMarban at alex(at)alaskadispatch.com