[House Hearing, 118 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                     ASSESSING SOLUTIONS TO SECURE
                   AMERICA'S OFFSHORE ENERGY FUTURE

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

                           OVERSIGHT HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

                       SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND
                           MINERAL RESOURCES

                                 OF THE

                     COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
                     U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                    ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS

                             SECOND SESSION

                               __________

                        Thursday, April 18, 2024

                               __________

                           Serial No. 118-112

                               __________

       Printed for the use of the Committee on Natural Resources
       
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        Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
                                   or
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                   U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE                    
55-447 PDF                  WASHINGTON : 2024                    
          
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                     COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES

                     BRUCE WESTERMAN, AR, Chairman
                    DOUG LAMBORN, CO, Vice Chairman
                  RAUL M. GRIJALVA, AZ, Ranking Member

Doug Lamborn, CO			Grace F. Napolitano, CA
Robert J. Wittman, VA			Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, 	
Tom McClintock, CA			    CNMI
Paul Gosar, AZ				Jared Huffman, CA
Garret Graves, LA			Ruben Gallego, AZ
Aumua Amata C. Radewagen, AS		Joe Neguse, CO
Doug LaMalfa, CA			Mike Levin, CA
Daniel Webster, FL			Katie Porter, CA
Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, PR		Teresa Leger Fernandez, NM
Russ Fulcher, ID			Melanie A. Stansbury, NM
Pete Stauber, MN			Mary Sattler Peltola, AK
John R. Curtis, UT			Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, NY
Tom Tiffany, WI				Kevin Mullin, CA
Jerry Carl, AL				Val T. Hoyle, OR
Matt Rosendale, MT			Sydney Kamlager-Dove, CA
Lauren Boebert, CO			Seth Magaziner, RI
Cliff Bentz, OR				Nydia M. Velazquez, NY
Jen Kiggans, VA				Ed Case, HI
Jim Moylan, GU				Debbie Dingell, MI
Wesley P. Hunt, TX			Susie Lee, NV
Mike Collins, GA
Anna Paulina Luna, FL
John Duarte, CA
Harriet M. Hageman, WY


                    Vivian Moeglein, Staff Director
                      Tom Connally, Chief Counsel
                 Lora Snyder, Democratic Staff Director
                   http://naturalresources.house.gov
                                 ------                                

              SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES

                       PETE STAUBER, MN, Chairman
                     WESLEY P. HUNT, TX, Vice Chair
              ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, NY, Ranking Member

Doug Lamborn, CO                     Jared Huffman, CA
Robert J. Wittman, VA                Kevin Mullin, CA
Paul Gosar, AZ                       Sydney Kamlager-Dove, CA
Garret Graves, LA                    Seth Magaziner, RI
Daniel Webster, FL                   Nydia M. Velazquez, NY
Russ Fulcher, ID                     Debbie Dingell, MI
John R. Curtis, UT                   Raul M. Grijalva, AZ
Tom Tiffany, WI                      Grace F. Napolitano, CA
Matt Rosendale, MT                   Susie Lee, NV
Lauren Boebert, CO                   Vacancy
Wesley P. Hunt, TX                   Vacancy
Mike Collins, GA
John Duarte, CA
Bruce Westerman, AR, ex officio

                               ---------
                               
                                CONTENTS

                                ----------                              
                                                                   Page

Hearing held on Thursday, April 18, 2024.........................     1

Statement of Members:

    Stauber, Hon. Pete, a Representative in Congress from the 
      State of Minnesota.........................................     1
    Kamlager-Dove, Hon. Sydney, a Representative in Congress from 
      the State of California....................................     2

Statement of Witnesses:

    Martin, Nikki, President and CEO, EnerGeo Alliance, Houston, 
      Texas......................................................     4
        Prepared statement of....................................     6
    McConn, Andy, Director, Head of Commercial Intelligence, 
      Enverus, Houston, Texas....................................    13
        Prepared statement of....................................    14
    Zimmermann, Eric, Chief Operating Officer, LLOG Exploration, 
      Covington, Louisiana.......................................    18
        Prepared statement of....................................    20
    Slocum, Tyson, Director, Energy Program, Public Citizen, 
      Washington, DC.............................................    27
        Prepared statement of....................................    28
        Questions submitted for the record.......................    33

Additional Materials Submitted for the Record:

    Submissions for the Record by Representative Stauber

        Press Release--Interior Department Announces $18.24 
          Billion in Fiscal Year 2023 Energy Revenue.............    35

        Bloomberg News, ``China Drills in Deeper Waters to Cut 
          Reliance on Foreign Oil,'' June 10, 2023...............    46

    Submissions for the Record by Representative Kamlager-Dove

        Environmental and Energy Study Institute--Fact Sheet, 
          Proposals to Reduce Fossil Fuel Subsidies (2021).......    41



 
                     OVERSIGHT HEARING ON ASSESSING
          SOLUTIONS TO SECURE AMERICA'S OFFSHORE ENERGY FUTURE

                              ----------                              


                        Thursday, April 18, 2024

                     U.S. House of Representatives

              Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources

                     Committee on Natural Resources

                             Washington, DC

                              ----------                              

    The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:32 a.m. in 
Room 1324, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Pete Stauber 
[Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding.
    Present: Representatives Stauber, Graves, Duarte, 
Westerman; and Kamlager-Dove.
    Also present: Representative Carl.

    Mr. Stauber. The Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral 
Resources will come to order.
    Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a 
recess of the Subcommittee at any time.
    Under Committee Rule 4(f), any oral opening statements at 
hearings are limited to the Chairman and the Ranking Minority 
Member.
    I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from Alabama, 
Mr. Carl, be allowed to participate in today's hearing.
    Without objection, so ordered.
    I now recognize myself for an opening statement.

    STATEMENT OF THE HON. PETE STAUBER, A REPRESENTATIVE IN 
              CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MINNESOTA

    Mr. Stauber. Good morning. Today, our hearing focuses on a 
pivotal topic for our nation's energy future: ``Assessing 
Solutions to Secure America's Offshore Energy Future.''
    The United States is blessed with substantial oil and gas 
reserves, yet the full extent of these resources remains 
partially untapped and, in some cases, inadequately understood. 
Recent evaluations included in the 2021 Undiscovered Resources 
Assessment by BOEM have illuminated the promising horizons that 
technological advancements offer, potentially unlocking energy 
reserves previously deemed inaccessible.
    Though it is crucial to recognize that these promising 
reports might just be the tip of the iceberg, our nation's 
offshore energy resources represent not only a vital source of 
energy security, but also a cornerstone of our economic 
prosperity and environmental stewardship.
    At the heart of this discussion lies the intersection of 
international competition and future energy demand as we assess 
viable solutions to Federal resource assessments.
    As global energy markets evolve and demand continues to 
rise, it is incumbent upon us to enable America to maintain its 
leadership in offshore energy innovation and development. 
Failure to do so risks ceding ground to adversarial nations and 
jeopardizing our energy security. Forecasts tell us as much. 
Just last year, 5 billion barrels of oil were discovered 
globally, but energy data firms estimate by 2050 we will need 
to discover over 17 million barrels per year to meet the global 
energy demand.
    BOEM's current 5-year plan and current Resource Assessment 
Framework do not offer viable paths to significantly aid in 
achieving this necessary level of discovery. One contributing 
factor in the long list of issues is the current permitting 
process, with timelines and agency decisions costing millions 
of dollars, thousands of hours in labor, and years of time 
before a decision is executed.
    Streamlining permitting processes, fostering collaboration 
between industry and government, incentivizing innovation, and 
providing more opportunities to lease will be key to unlocking 
the full potential of America's offshore energy resources. 
Following through with these reforms could ensure that informed 
decisions are made at the Department of the Interior, 
preventing regrettable statements like Secretary Haaland has 
made, who once admitted, ``I don't know what kind of minerals 
were there. I don't think they were critical minerals.'' And 
she was talking about the Duluth complex, the biggest untapped 
copper nickel find in the world, in Minnesota's Iron Range in 
the district that I am privileged to represent.
    With this example in mind, we cannot afford to overlook the 
pivotal role of geoscience exploration efforts informing our 
energy decisions. By harnessing the power of data and analysis, 
we can gain invaluable insights into offshore resource 
potential and environmental impacts, as well as provide greater 
access and incentivize actions for producers.
    While offshore oil and gas production may face challenges 
due to the course President Biden, Secretary Haaland, and 
Director Cline have set, there are signs of opportunity. By 
fostering dialogue, promoting collaboration, and embracing 
innovation, we can forge a path toward a more secure, 
sustainable, and prosperous offshore energy future for future 
generations to come.
    I will now put it over to our Ranking Member, Ms. Kamlager-
Dove, for her opening statement.

STATEMENT OF THE HON. SYDNEY KAMLAGER-DOVE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN 
             CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

    Ms. Kamlager-Dove. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and welcome 
everyone to the eighth hearing this Subcommittee has called 
this Congress to discuss offshore oil and gas development. No 
other topic has gotten nearly the same amount of attention. You 
would be forgiven for thinking the oil and gas industry is in 
some kind of crisis and in immediate need of government 
assistance and intervention. But let's be clear: nothing could 
be further from the truth.
    American oil and gas production is at all-time highs, and 
the United States is now the No. 1 exporter of oil and gas in 
the world. This record oil production is and always has been 
heavily supported by taxpayer dollars. For the American people, 
it is and always has been a bad deal.
    Since 1916, the Federal Government has gifted the oil and 
gas industry over $470 billion in never-expiring tax breaks. 
Mr. Chair, that is an awful lot of money. Fossil fuel companies 
benefit from over 13 Federal tax breaks. Offshore drilling 
companies can even write off the costs of cleaning up their 
environmental disasters. BP deducted $5.35 billion of the 
damages they owed for the Deepwater Horizon disaster, passing 
those costs on to the taxpayer. All of this adds up to huge 
savings for Big Oil.
    The average American worker pays 24.8 percent of their 
income in taxes. Meanwhile, in 2021, Exxon's effective tax 
rate, what Exxon paid after claiming all of their tax breaks, 
was 1.8 percent. That year, Exxon made over $66 billion in 
profits. And what do all these taxpayer dollars we are paying 
and investing buy us? Not energy independence. If we could 
drill, baby, drill to energy security we would be celebrating 
low energy prices and stability for American consumers. 
Instead, we are still facing high costs at the pump and on our 
utility bills while industry jobs decline.
    So, when we hear today about the need to secure our 
competitive advantage and drill for national security, we need 
to ask: Advantage and security for who?
    Over the course of the seven previous hearings we have 
heard many compelling testimonies from advocates whose lives, 
health, and communities have been harmed by pollution from 
offshore oil and gas, whose lands are disappearing under a dual 
onslaught from offshore infrastructure, stronger storms, and 
rising seas, whose livelihoods are threatened by oil spills.
    We have heard from an expert on the offshore oil and gas 
workforce that jobs are disappearing and becoming less stable 
and more unsafe as the industry learns to produce more with 
fewer workers, cutting corners, pay, and safety.
    And while American communities are bearing the burdens of 
offshore oil and gas production, more and more of that oil and 
gas is being shipped overseas, while big oil pockets the 
profits.
    True energy independence means producing clean energy for 
our communities here at home. National security comes from 
transitioning away from fossil fuels as quickly as possible, 
ending our reliance on oil once and for all, and containing 
climate change.
    Instead of yet another hearing on offshore oil and gas, we 
should be focusing on a different, primarily untapped offshore 
resource: wind. A recent study found that offshore wind could 
produce 90 percent of the nation's electricity needs in 2050. 
Building out this energy would create significant economic 
development opportunities across the country, from factories to 
installations with family-sustaining union jobs while cutting 
pollution and benefiting the climate.
    The time to act is now, and I would be remiss if I did not 
mention just days from the 14th anniversary of the Deepwater 
Horizon disaster that our offshore oil and gas program is ripe 
for another disaster. The Biden administration has taken steps 
to address some of the risks identified by the non-partisan 
Deepwater Horizon Commission. But at least one major risk 
remains unaddressed: the use of categorical exclusions from 
environmental reviews for deepwater drilling.
    Deepwater Horizon benefited from multiple categorical 
exclusions that exempted the rig from site-specific 
environmental reviews, which the Commission determined 
contributed to the disaster. As we remember the 11 lives lost 
in the Deepwater Horizon explosion, it is simply inappropriate 
not to carefully review the risks of each offshore rig, because 
the stakes are too high.
    Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I yield back.

    Mr. Stauber. Thank you for your opening statement. We will 
now move to introduce our witnesses.
    Let me remind the witnesses that under Committee Rules, 
they must limit their oral statements to 5 minutes, but their 
entire statement will appear in the hearing record.
    To begin your testimony, please press the ``talk'' button 
on the microphone.
    We use timing lights. When you begin, the light will turn 
green. When you have 1 minute remaining, the light will turn 
yellow. And at the end of 5 minutes, the light will turn red, 
and I will ask you to please complete your statement.
    I will also allow all witnesses to testify before Member 
questioning.
    Our first witness is Ms. Nikki Martin, and she is the 
President and CEO of EnerGeo Alliance, and is stationed in 
Houston, Texas.
    Ms. Martin, you are now recognized for 5 minutes.

STATEMENT OF NIKKI MARTIN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, ENERGEO ALLIANCE, 
                         HOUSTON, TEXAS

    Ms. Martin. Chairman Stauber, Ranking Member, and members 
of the Subcommittee, my name is Nikki Martin, and I am the 
President and CEO of EnerGeo Alliance. EnerGeo members are the 
geoscience companies and energy developers that use Earth 
science to discover, develop, and deliver energy and low-carbon 
solutions to our world. Many of our members operate in the 
United States, both onshore and offshore across the Outer 
Continental Shelf and extensively in the Gulf of Mexico.
    Geoscience innovation has transformed energy, providing the 
data needed to see and develop the resources beneath our feet 
and off our shores, while also reducing the footprint of energy 
exploration. Informed decisions regarding offshore energy 
development, including petroleum, wind, natural gas, hydrogen, 
and carbon capture and storage can only be made with the 
evaluation provided by modern geoscience.
    We are the industry that is making energy possible for the 
world, and this is critical because 10 percent of the world 
does not have access to electricity, and an estimated 3.5 
billion people do not have reasonably reliable access to 
electricity, meaning they spend more than 56 days per year 
without power.
    With the world population expected to increase to almost 10 
billion by 2050, energy demand is expected to increase 34 
percent. All sources of energy are required to meet this 
demand. Even with the fastest growth expected and alternative 
energy sources by 2050, as you mentioned, Chairman, we will 
need about 17.5 billion barrels per year to be discovered, in 
addition to resources already discovered to meet this demand. 
In contrast, just last year we discovered 5 billion 
conventional resources globally.
    While the increasing demand for energy leaves little room 
to argue, exploration is not required. Where the global 
industry invests will be influenced by where it can acquire 
geoscience data, good fiscals, and regulatory and policy 
structures that are based in risk and science. Congress enacted 
the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act for the expeditious 
development of OCS resources to achieve national security and 
economic policy goals, and reduce dependence on foreign 
sources. Geoscience is essential to achieving these goals, as 
the only technology available to accurately image the 
subsurface and understand the nation's energy supplies before a 
single energy source is developed or a single well drilled.
    Surveys conducted in the Gulf alone have informed an over 
fivefold increase in estimated recoverable reserves. Despite or 
precisely because of its importance, the permitting of this 
activity is too often stalled within regulatory agencies 
without accountable timelines and impeded by activists opposed 
to the energy development that may follow, whether that is 
natural gas, petroleum, or even wind. It is unfortunately easy 
to exploit the regulations in existing Marine Mammal Protection 
Act regulations governing the potential take of these 
activities. For example, although errors were discovered in the 
current Gulf of Mexico Geoscience MMPA regulation 3 years ago, 
proposed revisions were not made until early last year and are 
still pending. In Alaska, almost every regulation issued for 
offshore exploration has been challenged in court by activists 
exploiting the MMPA's ambiguous provisions and duplicative 
processes. At least one petition currently has stalled for more 
than 2 years, with unexplained delays currently preventing new 
geoscience surveys to update Alaska's North Slope.
    The hearing brief noted lack of resource estimates in the 
Atlantic. Six companies attempted to obtain survey permits that 
would have provided updated estimates to over 40-year-old data, 
but ultimately their quest ended in 2018 after nearly 7 years 
toiling through a bureaucratic maze to obtain MMPA 
authorizations.
    Overly broad and unsubstantiated designations of critical 
habitat also add uncertainty to the regulatory process, like 
the area currently proposed across the heart of the Gulf of 
Mexico for the Rice's whale based on very little supporting 
data.
    Since 2014, the number of geoscience surveys mapping the 
OCS has declined. In order to stimulate new geoscience activity 
which will inform the government's resource evaluation, 
regulation should provide predictability and promote 
competition and fiscal certainty. By setting reasonable 
deadlines in the application process and removing unnecessary 
duplication, Congress can ensure the agencies are accountable 
to existing statutory timelines and prevent future 
misapplication of the statute.
    Geoscience investment will also come with reinstating 
regular and robust lease rounds on the OCS and publishing the 
long-overdue regulations for offshore carbon capture and 
storage. This too would stimulate new geoscience activity.
    We urge Congress to review OCSLA, the MMPA, NEPA, and ESA, 
and pass meaningful modernizing provisions that will rectify 
existing delays for geoscience authorization. These are 
necessary steps to ensure the continued development of U.S. 
energy resources and low carbon solutions for generations to 
come. Thank you.

    [The prepared statement of Ms. Martin follows:]
Prepared Statement of Nikki Martin, President and CEO, EnerGeo Alliance

    Chairman Stauber, Ranking Member Ocasio-Cortez, and Members of the 
Subcommittee:
    For the record, my name is Nikki Martin, and I am the President & 
CEO of EnerGeo Alliance. I lead a Board of Directors composed of the 
CEOs from the world's leading geoscience companies. Our membership base 
includes 60 companies spanning 50 countries. EnerGeo's mission is to 
advance the energy geoscience and exploration industry through global 
governmental, regulatory, and legal advocacy, communications, 
environmental and scientific research, and standard development. We aim 
to drive excellence in health, safety, environmental performance, and 
sustainability.
    I joined EnerGeo (then IAGC) in 2013 and have extensive experience 
and background in environmental regulation and legal and government 
affairs. I am an attorney and studied political science. Before 
becoming the President & CEO of EnerGeo Alliance, I served as EnerGeo's 
Vice President for Government and Legal Affairs. I am the former 
Regulatory and Legal Affairs Manager at the Alaska Oil & Gas 
Association and previously practiced law in Anchorage, Alaska. Earlier 
in my career, I also served as staff to U.S. Senate President Pro 
Tempore Ted Stevens and as a legislative aide to the Alaska State 
Senate President and Alaska State House Majority Leader.
    I present this testimony as President & CEO of EnerGeo Alliance. 
Founded in 1971, EnerGeo is the non-profit global trade alliance for 
the energy geoscience and exploration industry. EnerGeo Alliance member 
companies include onshore and offshore geoscience survey operators and 
acquisition companies, energy data and processing providers, energy 
exploration and development companies, equipment and software 
manufacturers, industry suppliers, service providers, and 
consultancies. EnerGeo advocates for connecting more people and 
communities with access to energy around the world--by communicating 
factually, securing science-based policies, and promoting the 
geoscience companies, innovators and energy developers that use earth 
science to discover, develop and deliver energy, sustainably, to our 
world. Together, we are Making Energy Possible.
    Many EnerGeo member companies operate in the U.S., both onshore and 
offshore across the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and extensively 
within the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). These companies play an integral role 
in the successful exploration and development of offshore hydrocarbon, 
wind and low-carbon solutions such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) 
resources through the acquisition and processing of geophysical and 
geological data.
    Through reliable science- and data-based regulatory advocacy, 
credible resources and expertise, and future-focused leadership, 
EnerGeo Alliance continuously works to develop and promote informed 
government policies that advance responsible energy exploration, 
production, and operations. As the U.S. and global energy demand 
evolves, we believe that all policymakers and energy companies pursuing 
mainstay, alternative, and low-carbon solutions, should have access to 
reliable data and analysis to support their forward-moving efforts.
    At EnerGeo Alliance, we are proud of our unique collaborations 
between industry, scientists, and governments to support sustainable 
energy access. In the U.S., this includes EnerGeo's Gulf of Mexico 
Proactive Regulatory Observational Program (GOM-PROP) to provide a 
self-sustaining structure for the continued successful implementation 
of, and compliance with, both present and future Incidental Take 
Regulations (ITR), governing the operation of geoscience surveys in the 
Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and providing comprehensive marine mammal 
monitoring data.

    Energy Demand: The global economy and oil demand are set to achieve 
consecutive record highs in 2024 and 2025, alongside record lows in oil 
intensity and consecutive global oil supply records, per U.S. Energy 
Information Administration (EIA) projections.
    Natural gas experienced record-breaking global demand, production, 
and consumption levels in 2023--and these records are expected to be 
broken again this year and in 2025 per the International Energy Agency 
(IEA).
    Global natural gas demand is also predicted to reach record highs 
in 2024 and 2025 with natural gas remaining an integral and competitive 
source for global electricity generation, heating, cooking, and 
industrial demands, as well as environmental progress.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ TXOGA Quarterly Energy Economics Outlook
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Exploration will continue to play a critical role in ensuring 
global access to energy in the future and now in the midst of the 
energy evolution. By 2050, the world population is estimated to 
increase to almost 9.8 billion.\2\ Total energy use is expected to 
increase 34%, with an expected steady growth in mainstay sources of 
energy (petroleum and natural gas constituting 50%) and faster growth 
anticipated in all other sources.\3\ In this scenario, exploration will 
be critical for the energy evolution. While about 5 billion barrels of 
oil were discovered in 2023, by 2050 we will need to discover 17.56 
billion barrels per year to match the global energy demand.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ Source: 2023 Population Data Sheet--https://www.prb.org/wp-
content/uploads/2023/12/2023-World-Population-Data-Sheet-Booklet.pdf
    \3\ Source: EIA International Energy Outlook--October 2023 https://
www.eia.gov/outlooks/ieo/
    \4\ Source: RystadEnergy UCube; Rystad Energy U.CubeExploration; 
Rystad Energy research and analysis
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The U.S. has been blessed with energy abundance, while roughly 10% 
of the world does not have any access to electricity. According to the 
Rockefeller Foundation, more than 840 million people lack access to 
electricity and over 3 billion people currently live in countries with 
per capita energy consumption below the Modern Energy Minimum--1,000kwh 
per year. Together, it is estimated over 3.5 billion people do not have 
reasonably reliable access to electricity, meaning that they spend more 
than 56 days per year without power.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ John Ayaburi, Morgan Bazilian, Jacob Kincer, Todd Moss, 
Measuring ``Reasonably Reliable'' access to electricity services, The 
Electricity Journal, Volume 33, Issue 7, 2020, 106828, ISSN 1040-6190, 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tej.2020.106828.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Currently, 30% of the world does not have access to clean fuels for 
cooking. Cooking with kerosene, coal or biomass is directly linked to 
over 3 million premature deaths per year with women and children 
disproportionately impacted.\6\ Removing access to unfavored energy 
sources has disproportionate impacts on marginalized populations.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\ World Health Organization, ``Household air pollution'', https:/
/www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/household-air-pollution-and-
health#::text=Each%20year%2C%203.2%20million% 
20people,air%20pollution%20data%20for%20details)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Populations around the world will need greater access to reliable 
and affordable energy to not only thrive, but for the movement of goods 
and people and for climate resilience, providing the necessary 
feedstock for fertilization, refrigeration for foods and medicine, 
irrigation, heating and cooling, and more. As a top priority of UN 
Sustainable Development Goals, we need all sources of energy at the 
table, to meet skyrocketing demand for energy security and energy 
accessibility.
    While we are at the start of what is being called an 
``international upcycle''. where the industry invests now will be 
influenced by where it has access to insight through geoscience data, 
infrastructure, and supportive regulatory and policy structures. 
Unfortunately, the United States is falling behind due to unnecessary 
bureaucratic delays and shortsighted policies that elevate certain 
forms of energy over others.

    Our Surveys: Meeting growing demand for energy that is more 
accessible, affordable, reliable, and cleaner will require greater 
collaboration and geoscience-driven energy policies. The reality is, no 
matter the preferred or prioritized energy source, virtually all 
sources of energy needed to support the world's energy evolution 
require ``eyes'' on something going in, out, or through the ground. 
That sight is only made possible through the innovation and insight of 
the energy geoscience industry.
    Mainstay energy sources such as petroleum and natural gas, and the 
lower carbon energy solutions such as offshore and onshore wind, as 
well as carbon capture and sequestration, depend on geoscience. Energy 
literally starts with the geoscience industry.
    By providing invaluable information about the resources beneath us, 
energy companies and policymakers can identify and prioritize high-
density, lower-carbon-intensive energy sources, locate where offshore 
wind facilities are best suited for harnessing the energy from wind, 
prolong the life of existing natural gas and petroleum assets, make it 
possible to store carbon beneath the surface, and more.
    As nations develop and implement their energy evolution goals to 
make reliable, affordable energy available to their citizens and meet 
Net Zero Emissions (NZE) policy ambitions, it is essential to 
understand that those goals cannot and will not be realized without the 
critical data and technology the geoscience industry provides.
    Even though, by current market cap, geosciences are a small part of 
the energy supply chain, when it comes to whether energy can be 
accessed in any given region, we are the first and most pivotal part.
Resource Evaluation in the United States

    The only viable process for the U.S. Government to understand the 
country's resource potential is through geoscience surveys conducted by 
advanced technology companies like those that comprise EnerGeo's 
membership. According to BOEM's website, regarding resource evaluation, 
``Every five years BOEM provides a comprehensive assessment of 
undiscovered oil and gas resources on the OCS. The results are 
presented as both Undiscovered Technically Recoverable Resources (UTRR) 
and Undiscovered Economically Recoverable Resources (UERR). The 
assessment utilizes a geologic play-based approach that incorporates a 
complete analysis of geologic and petroleum system elements for the 
UTRR, and an assessment of engineering and economic considerations for 
the calculation of the UERR. DOI has released an Assessment of 
Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources on the US OCS regularly since 
1975.''
    This information is not possible and would not be available to 
policymakers and U.S. citizens without the geoscience industry 
conducting surveys. By conducting surveys that image the subsurface 
below the ocean floor, geoscience surveys provide the information 
governments and policymakers need to make informed decisions in the 
best interest of their citizens regarding accessing and developing 
energy sources of all types, as well as developing low-carbon 
strategies.
    Based on information compiled by the subcommittee, BOEM last 
updated its reserves report in December 2019, with their 2023 
Comprehensive Inventory still relying on this outdated data for Gulf of 
Mexico. Notably, there is a lack of reserves information for Alaska and 
the Atlantic on their website.
    Seismic and geoscience surveying is a well-understood and safe 
industry practice, and informed policy decisions regarding offshore 
energy development of any type can only be made with the evaluation 
provided by modern seismic survey technology. In the more than 60 years 
of geoscience surveys in the Gulf of Mexico, there has not been a 
single reported incidence of sound from survey operations injuring 
marine life. Tens of thousands of offshore geoscience surveys have 
occurred throughout the world over the last 60 years using conventional 
compressed-air arrays. In all that time, and across millions of 
kilometres, there is no credible scientific evidence that sound from 
geoscience surveys has had any significant impacts on marine life 
populations, or the marine environment.
    Unfortunately, the permitting of this activity, critical to 
identifying the nation's energy supplies, is too often stalled within 
regulatory agencies without accountable deadlines or timelines for 
review, or impeded by extreme environmental advocacy organizations 
exploiting existing regulatory and litigation processes.
Policy Challenges

    Because the energy geoscience industry provides access to develop 
energy through its imaging, it is very often the first presence of 
energy development or exploration in a geographic area. Because of 
this, our members often encounter obstacles and opposition to their 
operations that are aimed at preventing the development of a certain 
energy source--whether that's petroleum, natural gas, or even wind.
    In some regions, extreme environmental advocacy groups prioritize 
preventing any energy geoscience surveys from occurring and even label 
geoscience research as ``the gateway drug to oil and gas''. As a 
result, policymakers and energy companies are unable to access 
important data needed to make informed decisions about future energy 
development.
    This has led to increased regulatory scrutiny and misinformation 
about what geoscience research is and its impacts in frontier areas and 
even in mature basins. Recent eNGO advocacy focuses on geoscience as 
the linchpin to not only exploration but also increasing production in 
mature basins includes the Gulf of Mexico.\7\
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    \7\ https://www.nrdc.org/stories/offshore-drilling-
101#environmental
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    In order to stimulate new geoscience activity, policymakers must 
prioritize geoscience-driven energy policies and regulatory frameworks 
that remove uncertainty and delay, promote timely permitting decisions, 
and support a quick pace of return on investment. Regulations should 
provide predictability, promote competition, and provide fiscal 
certainty, through risk- and science-based processes.
BOEM Permitting & NMFS Authorization Delays

    In the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), Congress 
expressly mandated the ``expeditious and orderly development'' of the 
Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) ``subject to environmental safeguards.'' 
43 U.S.C. Sec. 1332(3). Courts have since confirmed that ``the 
expeditious development of OCS resources'' is OCSLA's primary purpose. 
California v. Watt, 668 F.2d 1290, 1316 (D.C. Cir. 1981). Congress 
enacted OCSLA to ``achieve national economic and energy policy goals, 
assure national security, reduce dependence on foreign sources, and 
maintain a favorable balance of payments in world trade.'' 43 U.S.C. 
Sec. 1802(1). Congress expressly intended to ``make [OCS] resources 
available to meet the Nation's energy needs as rapidly as possible.'' 
Id. Sec. 1802(2)(A).
    Geoscience surveying has been and continues to be essential to 
achieving OCSLA's requirements because it is the only feasible 
technology available to accurately image the subsurface of the OCS 
before a single well is drilled or a single energy source is developed.
    Offshore geoscience surveys require authorizations from BOEM, 
pursuant to OCSLA. See id. Sec. 1340. There is no requirement for an 
applicant for an offshore survey permit under OCSLA to obtain an 
incidental take authorization under the MMPA. However, unlawful 
``takes'' of marine mammals incidental to lawful activities (such as a 
permitted offshore seismic survey) may nevertheless be subject to MMPA-
based penalties. See 16 U.S.C. Sec. 1375. Accordingly, many applicants 
for offshore survey permits from BOEM also request incidental (i.e., 
unintentional) take authorization under the MMPA from the National 
Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and/or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service (FWS).\8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \8\ FWS has jurisdiction over polar bears, walrus, sea otters, 
dugongs, and manatees. NMFS has jurisdiction over all other marine 
mammals.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In this context, it is important to recognize that the permit 
issued by BOEM authorizes the seismic survey and the MMPA authorization 
narrowly addresses the incidental take associated with the seismic 
survey. NMFS and FWS do not have jurisdiction over the survey; their 
authority under the MMPA extends only to the authorization of 
incidental take. Notwithstanding the limited role of FWS and NMFS, MMPA 
authorizations are often the primary cause of administrative delay in 
the offshore geoscience survey permitting process.
    In the past decade, these problems have manifested in routinely 
delayed permitting processes, inconsistent and misguided analyses of 
potential impacts, and opportunistic advocacy litigation intended to 
block or impede offshore development.
    For example, in the Gulf of Mexico, BOEM requires an MMPA 
authorization from NMFS prior to the issuance of a geoscience permit 
under the current ITR. During the promulgation process, industry 
pointed out mathematical errors in the finalized ITR from January 2021. 
Proposed revisions have been pending since January 2023, further 
delaying the process and sowing uncertainty and delay into the agency's 
current authorizations of on-lease and off-lease geoscience activities. 
At the same time, the number of geoscience surveys mapping the Gulf of 
Mexico has been steadily decreasing since 2014.
    In Alaska, unnecessary and unexplained delays in processing Marine 
Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) authorizations prevent planned geoscience 
surveys from providing the timely insight that would update resource 
estimates. Currently, at least one petition for MMPA authorization has 
stalled for more than two years preventing updated insight into the 
resource potential on Alaska's North Slope.
    In the Atlantic, approximately 30 years have passed since the 
potential hydrocarbon resource base has been assessed with seismic 
surveys. In the meantime, seismic surveys for ``scientific research'' 
have been conducted fairly regularly in the Atlantic OCS, in addition 
to other geophysical surveys used to characterize the seabed and 
subsurface for suitability of offshore wind energy facilities. Six 
companies applied to BOEM for permits to conduct seismic surveying in 
the Atlantic OCS--a process that started in 2011 when the first permit 
application was filed, and ultimately ended in 2018 after nearly six 
years of working to obtain MMPA authorizations from NMFS.
    Although well-intended at the time it was enacted many years ago, 
the MMPA's ambiguous, outdated, and unclear language has proven 
unworkable for issuing incidental take authorizations for offshore 
activities. Changes to the statute will significantly improve the 
regulatory process for both federal regulators and the regulated 
community.
    In addition, overly broad and unsupported designations of critical 
habitat add ambiguity and uncertainty to the regulatory process. On 
July 24, 2023, NMFS proposed to designate over 28,000 square miles of 
the GOM continental shelf and slope as critical habitat and asserts all 
are ``occupied'' by Rice's whales.\9\ The most recent Stock Assessment 
Report (SAR) published by NMFS places the Rice's whale population in 
the GOM at 51 individuals.\10\ The proposed designation cuts across the 
heart of GOM and expands known Rice's whale habitat to cover the 
entirety of the 100-400m isobath throughout the central and western 
GOM. This equates to an area of about 550 square miles--about eight 
times the size of Washington, D.C.--for each individual animal, 
assuming the animals are uniformly distributed. However, historical 
detections, both visual and acoustic, are largely concentrated in the 
De Soto Canyon area in the northeastern GOM, leaving an even broader 
swath of the designated habitat likely devoid of animals.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \9\ 88 Fed. Reg. at 47,455; id. at 47,460.
    \10\ Hayes, S.A., et al. 2023. U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico 
Marine Mammal Stock Assessments 2022. NOAA Tech. Mem. NMFS-NE-304.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    NMFS's determination that the entire GOM is ``occupied'' is not 
supported by the best available science or the record before the 
agency. Just a few years prior, in its 2019 listing determination, NMFS 
noted that Rice's whales are ``restricted primarily to a small region 
along the continental shelf break in the De Soto Canyon area.'' \11\ 
Just weeks after releasing the Proposed Rule, NMFS again reiterated in 
its stock assessment report that, ``Sighting records and acoustic 
detections of Rice's whales in the northern Gulf of Mexico (i.e., U.S. 
Gulf of Mexico) occur primarily in the northeastern Gulf in the De Soto 
Canyon area, along the continental shelf break between 100 m and 400 m 
depth.'' \12\ NMFS cannot rationally determine that the entire GOM is 
occupied, while also explicitly stating that the De Soto Canyon hosts 
the majority of the species and that the species has not been 
documented outside of a narrow depth range.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \11\ Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Endangered 
Status of the Gulf of Mexico Bryde's Whale, 84 Fed. Reg. 15,446, 15,460 
(Apr. 15, 2019). NMFS revised the common name of the species from 
Bryde's whale to Rice's whale in 2021. Endangered and Threatened 
Wildlife and Plants; Technical Corrections for the Bryde's Whale (Gulf 
of Mexico Subspecies), 86 Fed. Reg. 47,022 (Aug. 23, 2021).
    \12\ Stock Assessment Report at 114; see Final 2022 Marine Mammal 
Stock Assessment Reports, 88 Fed. Reg. 54,592 (Aug. 11, 2023) 
(announcing release of Stock Assessment Report).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recommendations to Stimulate Geoscience Activity

    Specific to BOEM geoscience permitting, EnerGeo members have 
experienced certain ambiguities and identified areas that may make the 
permitting process run more efficiently in the following suggestions:

  1.  Industry finds the timeliness of the permit process for 
            geoscience activities to be open-ended and uncertain. 
            EnerGeo has recommended that BOEM establish a certain 
            timeline for permit review and approval. The timing 
            requirements for drilling permit review and approval is a 
            good example that BOEM should strive to achieve for 
            geoscience permits.

  2.  Industry has encouraged BOEM to explore the creation of an 
            electronic permit application process. Efficiencies for 
            permit processing and man-hours may be realized through 
            electronic permit applications. Many countries around the 
            world utilize electronic permit application processes. This 
            allows the applicant to monitor the status of the permit 
            process and timely provide any information requests from 
            BOEM. This has been seen to drastically decrease the permit 
            process timeline.

  3.  Geoscience operations consistently utilize the same vessels 
            throughout the offshore U.S. BOEM should take steps to 
            create a catalogue of vessel information and certificates 
            to reduce permitting costs and burden hours.

  4.  Industry encouraged BOEM to develop a catalogue of equipment used 
            in offshore geoscience activities, including Ocean Bottom 
            Nodes, Ocean Bottom Cables, Streamers, etc. This would 
            reduce the time needed to collect pictures and physical 
            samples of all parts and equipment deployed in the water 
            column. Permit applications could then reference these 
            materials to reduce the time spent.

  5.  Regarding areas of the OCS that are not included in the 5-year 
            Oil & Gas Leasing Program, consider streamlined permitting 
            processes for geoscience activities.

  6.  BOEM to consider incentivizing the acquisition of new data and 
            products through direct funding or favorable tax regimes.

  7.  BOEM to work more efficiently with peer agencies such as the Fish 
            and Wildlife Service and NMFS to ensure unnecessary 
            roadblocks and ambiguity in regulations are removed.

    EnerGeo encourages congressional direction regarding alignment 
among the agencies.

    Specific to NMFS MMPA authorization processes, EnerGeo members have 
experienced extensive delay. They have identified problematic areas and 
encourage regulatory and legislative solutions, including:

  1.  IHAs involving offshore oil and gas-related activities are 
            rarely, if ever, issued within the timing requirements of 
            the MMPA. NMFS even states on its website that the IHA 
            permitting process takes at least six to nine months to 
            complete. The process often takes much longer. The MMPA 
            provides no consequences for such delay, nor does it 
            provide any incentives to NMFS and FWS to avoid delay.

  2.  Because the MMPA contains no timing requirements applicable to 
            ITRs, the regulatory process for issuing ITRs often takes 
            years and, in the industry's view, is de-prioritized by the 
            agencies because other agency obligations are subject to 
            timing requirements and consequences.

  3.  The ESA Section 7 consultation process is cumbersome and time-
            consuming. The Section 7 process is also subject to 
            statutorily mandated deadlines, but those deadlines are 
            routinely ignored by NMFS and FWS without consequence. The 
            Section 7 consultation process is often a significant cause 
            of the delay in the issuance of an authorization under 
            Section 101(a)(5) of the MMPA, even though the substantive 
            standard governing the Section 7 process is less stringent 
            than the MMPA's ``negligible impact'' standard.

  4.  Another significant source of delay in the issuance of MMPA 
            incidental take authorizations involves the estimation of 
            the number of ``takes'' that are expected to occur. Because 
            the MMPA's definition of ``take'' is extraordinarily broad 
            and ambiguous (more so than the ESA's definition of 
            ``take''), FWS and NMFS struggle to determine what 
            activities actually cause ``take'' and, as a result, they 
            apply extremely conservative assumptions to ensure that 
            their ``take'' estimation modeling encapsulates all 
            conceivable ``take'' (and more). This process results in 
            estimates that are inaccurate and vastly exaggerate the 
            number of ``takes'' that will actually occur.

  5.  The ``take'' estimation modeling exercises are considerably more 
            complicated and play an unduly important role in the 
            permitting process because the agencies are required to 
            demonstrate that the incidental take authorization will not 
            only have a ``negligible impact'' on the potentially 
            affected marine mammal stocks but also affect ``small 
            numbers'' of marine mammals. The term ``small numbers'' has 
            no biological significance whatsoever to the marine mammal 
            population and is a legal term of art that has notoriously 
            confused courts and regulators alike.

  6.  All of these regulatory problems and inefficiencies create 
            fertile ground for legal challenges by advocacy groups that 
            will readily file any and all available lawsuits for the 
            sole purpose of impeding and preventing the energy 
            development of the OCS.

    When it was enacted in the early 1970s (and subsequently amended), 
the congressional intent behind the MMPA was cutting-edge and forward-
thinking. However, as described above, decades of regulation and 
litigation have exposed some significant flaws in the MMPA. The primary 
flaws in the MMPA stem from (i) poorly written statutory language that 
creates ambiguity and uncertainty in the application of the MMPA's 
legal standards, and (ii) procedural duplication and inefficiency. 
These flaws result in agency delays, overly conservative and inaccurate 
impact analyses, confusion by agencies and courts, and exploitation by 
environmental advocacy groups. Fixing some of the obvious flaws in the 
MMPA could result in tangible regulatory improvements that increase 
efficiency, decrease uncertainty and risk, and ultimately benefit all 
stakeholders, citizens, and the implementing agencies.
BOEM Carbon Capture & Storage Permitting

    Geoscience also ensures that CCS projects are sited, designed, and 
managed to ensure and demonstrate the long-term technical and 
environmental integrity of the storage or sequestration.
    In March 2021, the Biden administration set an ambitious goal of 
deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind electricity generation by 2030 
\13\ and has since highlighted new steps the United States was taking 
to meet its ambitious 1.5+C-aligned goal of reducing emissions 50-52 
percent in 2030, noting it would ``require responsible deployment of 
carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) and carbon dioxide 
removal (CDR) technologies . . . CCUS has a critical role to play in 
decarbonizing the global economy, particularly the industrial sector, 
where process emissions are more difficult to address.\14\'' These 
goals are simply not possible without the geoscience industry, and the 
current regulatory delays will disallow implementing the vast offshore 
CCS needed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \13\ FACT SHEET: Biden Administration Jumpstarts Offshore Wind 
Energy Projects to Create Jobs https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-
room/statements-releases/2021/03/29/fact-sheet-biden-administration-
jumpstarts-offshore-wind-energy-projects-to-create-jobs/
    \14\ FACT SHEET: President Biden to Catalyze Global Climate Action 
through the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate https://
www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/04/20/fact-
sheet-president-biden-to-catalyze-global-climate-action-through-the-
major-economies-forum-on-energy-and-climate/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Following this ambitious goal, the Administration mandated the 
Department of Interior to publish CCS regulations by November 2022, a 
deadline that was missed and is still outstanding with no end date in 
sight. Policymakers should prioritize now the infrastructure required, 
including ensuring the efficient permitting of geoscience surveys 
needed for the identification and monitoring of the storage areas.
    EnerGeo continues to call on BOEM and the current administration to 
propose long-overdue regulations for offshore CCS. Particularly, 
expanded permitting and permitting capacity with unambiguous, clear, 
concise regulations and timely permitting decisions. Further, 
regulations should prioritize timely, accessible geoscience data 
throughout the life of the asset.

    The energy geoscience industry has recommended the following to 
BOEM on the development of offshore CCS regulations and encourages 
Congress to support the following:

     Defined timelines for approving or denying requested 
            permits.

     The process should not differ in a significant way from 
            existing geoscience permitting processes for hydrocarbons.

     The geoscience industry has a long history of obtaining 
            permits with the expectation that science-based mitigation 
            measures will match the potential impacts from activities.

     The geoscience industry supports a research and evaluation 
            phase, pre-leasing.

Lease Rounds

     Regularly held, predictable and well-defined lease rounds 
            should be held for CCS, if existing hydrocarbon leases will 
            not be available for CCS. Clarity from the agencies is 
            required on how leasing will be conducted for CCS.

     Recognition by BOEM and Federal Agencies of the critical 
            role of existing geoscience data available for licensing 
            and bidding on CCS--and avoid disclosure of confidential 
            industry intellectual property.

     Lease lengths should be consistent with hydrocarbon 
            leases.

On-Lease

     Once leases have been awarded, or CCS work programs are 
            being developed, requirements for geoscience data to 
            confirm geological stability and for carbon injection 
            should be included.

     Monitoring requirements throughout the lease term will 
            require geoscience activity to confirm the safe injection 
            and stability of depleted reservoirs and/or aquifers.

Post-Lease

     Following the expiration of a lease term, continued 
            monitoring of the injection site will be required.

     Liability should be borne by the Federal Government, ie: 
            Plume Leaks. At no time should liability surrounding the 
            sequestration site be placed on geoscience companies 
            providing data to the leaseholders or the government.

Conclusion

    The energy geoscience industry is in the business of minimizing the 
footprint of energy activity, by pinpointing where the resource is and 
importantly where it is not, allowing companies and policymakers to 
identify and prioritize high-density, low-carbon-intensive energy 
sources closer to existing infrastructure and the end user, locating 
where offshore wind facilities are best suited for harnessing the 
energy from wind, prolonging the life of existing natural gas and 
petroleum assets, and making it possible to store carbon beneath the 
surface. Geoscience surveys provide the information governments and 
policymakers need to make informed decisions in the best interest of 
their citizens regarding accessing mainstay energy and alternative 
sources, as well as developing low-carbon strategies. Currently, those 
data acquired by our members make it possible for BOEM to publish 
resource assessments. Nations cannot develop and provide opportunities 
for energizing their economies without the geoscience industry, let 
alone implement their energy evolution goals to make reliable, 
affordable energy available to their citizens and meet Net Zero 
Emissions (NZE) policy ambitions.
    We urge Congress to review OCSLA, the MMPA, the ESA, and other 
relevant statutes and pass meaningful modernizing provisions, that will 
rectify the existing delays for geoscience survey authorizations and 
urge the administration to implement regulations to provide for 
efficient carbon capture and storage projects on the OCS. The energy 
geoscience and exploration industry stands ready to partner in the 
discovery and development of low carbon solutions and of energy dense, 
low emissions sources of energy to power the world. Streamlining the 
permitting process along with reducing the ability for outside special 
interest groups to obstruct energy geoscience exploration is a 
necessary step to ensure our continued development of energy resources 
and low-carbon solutions for future generations in the U.S.

    Thank you for the opportunity to testify today.

                                 ______
                                 

    Mr. Stauber. Perfect timing. Thank you very much for your 
testimony.
    Our next witness is Mr. Andy McConn. He is the Director and 
Head of Commercial Intelligence for Enverus, and he is 
stationed in Houston, Texas.
    Mr. McConn, you are now recognized for 5 minutes. Welcome.

    STATEMENT OF ANDY McCONN, DIRECTOR, HEAD OF COMMERCIAL 
             INTELLIGENCE, ENVERUS, HOUSTON, TEXAS

    Mr. McConn. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Enverus is a software, analytics, and AI company focused on 
the energy sector. I serve as Director within the Enverus 
Intelligence Research Division, which publishes research 
focused on oil, natural gas, power, and the renewables 
industries. Our role here today is to provide a commercial 
perspective on U.S. offshore energy potential and the region's 
role within the global market.
    Our analysis suggests that, under current market 
conditions, the U.S. offshore oil region oil and gas production 
is unlikely to return to growth. We forecast that the current 
slate of sanctioned projects can keep the region's oil 
production near flat for only 2 years. Exploration drilling, 
which is needed to replenish discoveries to maintain or grow 
production, has been declining by a 14 percent annual rate 
since 2014.
    It is well known that growth momentum has shifted in 
previous decades from the offshore region to onshore, namely to 
shale resources, but we forecast that U.S. onshore oil growth 
will moderate significantly this year and beyond. We estimate 
that each of the main shale oil basins holds between 3 and 10 
years of economically attractive drilling inventory, which 
represents a sharp reduction from industry estimates of years 
ago.
    Producers' desire to preserve scarce shale inventory in 
conjunction with the diminished role of growth-oriented private 
capital and investors' desire for capital to be returned to 
shareholders rather than reinvested for growth, all contribute 
to our forecast of lower domestic oil production growth 
onshore.
    Shale's diminishing role, in conjunction with the dearth of 
exploration activity and growth potential globally, provides an 
opportunity for the U.S. offshore region. We believe the global 
oil market is structurally under-supplied for the long term. 
OPEC has regained control of the oil market. Investors are 
looking for new potential sources of supply. A change to market 
conditions such as higher oil prices and/or new government-led 
initiatives could inject growth potential back into the U.S. 
offshore energy sector. And indeed, we already see signs of 
green shoots.
    The most recent Gulf of Mexico lease sale, No. 259, 
featured an increase in competition and bid value for high-
impact acreage in the growing lower tertiary play. Recent 
applications of hydraulic fracturing technology in the play has 
yielded some positive results. These tailwinds add to the 
region's already recognized attractive features like low 
emissions intensity, low above-ground risk, and high resource 
estimates.
    To summarize, exploration drilling has waned in the U.S. 
offshore region in recent years, but growth potential has also 
weakened onshore and in other energy-producing countries. The 
global oil market is projected to become increasingly under-
supplied from non-OPEC regions. Long-term investors are seeking 
new sources of supply. The U.S. offshore region offers many 
attractive features to such investors, and a moderate change or 
improvement in market and regulatory conditions could cause the 
region to realize more of its growth potential.
    Thank you for the opportunity to testify here today, and I 
look forward to answering your questions.

    [The prepared statement of Mr. McConn follows:]
          Prepared Statement of Andy McConn, Director, Enverus

       A Commercial Perspective on U.S. Offshore Energy Potential

Focus

    Congressional Testimony for the U.S. House of Representatives 
Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources 
Oversight Hearing Titled ``Assessing the Solutions to Secure America's 
Offshore Energy Future''

    Enverus is a software, analytics and AI company focused on the 
energy sector. I serve as a director within the Enverus Intelligence 
Research (EIR) division, which publishes research focused on the oil, 
natural gas, power and renewable industries. Our role here today is to 
provide a commercial perspective on U.S. offshore energy potential and 
the region's position in the global market.

    Our analysis, based on current market conditions, suggests that 
U.S. offshore oil and gas production is unlikely to return to growth. 
We forecast that the current slate of sanctioned projects can keep the 
region's oil production near flat for only two years (Figure 1). 
Exploration drilling, which is needed to replenish discoveries to 
maintain or grow production, has been declining by a 14% annual rate 
since 2014 (Figure 2).

    It is well known that growth momentum has shifted in previous 
decades from the offshore region to onshore, namely to shale resources. 
But we forecast U.S. onshore oil growth to moderate significantly by 
the end of the decade (Figure 3). We estimate that each of the main 
shale oil basins holds between three and 10 years of economically 
attractive drilling inventory, which represents a sharp reduction from 
industry estimates years ago. Producers' desire to preserve scarce 
shale inventory--in conjunction with a diminished role of growth-
oriented private capital and investors' desire for capital to be 
returned to shareholders rather than reinvested for growth--all 
contribute to our forecast of lower domestic oil-production growth 
onshore.

    Shale's diminishing role--in conjunction with a dearth of 
exploration activity and growth potential, globally--provides an 
opportunity for the U.S. offshore region. We believe the global oil 
market is structurally undersupplied for the long term (Figure 4). OPEC 
has regained control of the oil market. Investors are looking for new 
potential sources of supply. A change to market conditions, such as 
higher oil prices and/or new government-led initiatives, could inject 
growth potential back into the U.S. offshore energy sector.

    Indeed, there are already signs of green shoots.The most recent 
Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale #259 featured an increase in bid value on 
remote, high-impact acreage in the growing Lower Tertiary play (Figure 
5). Recent application of hydraulic fracturing technology in the play 
has yielded some positive results (Figure 6). These tailwinds add to 
the region's already-recognized attractive features like low emissions 
intensity (Figure 7), low above-ground risk and high estimates for 
undiscovered technically recoverable resources (UTRR).

    To summarize: Exploration drilling has waned in the U.S. offshore 
region in recent years. But growth potential has also weakened onshore 
and in other energy-producing countries. The global oil market is 
projected to become increasingly undersupplied from non-OPEC regions. 
Long-term investors are seeking new sources of supply. The U.S. 
offshore region offers many attractive features to such investors. A 
moderate change in market conditions could cause the region to realize 
more of its growth potential.
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


Disclosure Statement:
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    Information contained herein has been compiled and prepared from 
various public and industry sources believed to be reliable, but no 
representation or warranty, expressed or implied is made by Enverus, 
its affiliates or any other person as to the accuracy or completeness 
of the information. The opinions expressed in this report reflect the 
judgment of EIR as of the date of this report and are subject to change 
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    To the full extent provided by law, neither Enverus nor any of its 
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liability with regard to any use or application of the data included 
herein.

                                 ______
                                 

    Mr. Stauber. Thank you very much. I am going to ask 
Representative Graves from Louisiana to introduce our next 
witness.
    Mr. Graves. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Joining us today is 
the Chief Operating Officer of LLOG Exploration from Covington, 
Louisiana, just over to the east of our district, but we are 
going to give them a chance to move their headquarters to our 
district, whenever you are ready to do that. The Chief 
Operating Officer has worked for decades in the energy 
industry.
    I appreciate you being here, and I look forward to your 
testimony.
    Mr. Stauber. Thank you.
    Mr. Zimmermann, you are now recognized.

  STATEMENT OF ERIC ZIMMERMANN, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, LLOG 
               EXPLORATION, COVINGTON, LOUISIANA

    Mr. Zimmermann. Good morning, Chairman Stauber, 
Representative Graves, ladies and gentlemen of the House 
Natural Resources Committee, and good morning to my fellow 
guests. It is an honor to be here today. My name is Eric 
Zimmermann, and I am proud to represent LLOG Exploration 
Company, based out of Covington, Louisiana.
    The offshore energy sector is a proven leader in solving 
energy challenges and delivering diverse sources of energy to 
the global economy. At LLOG Exploration, we remain committed to 
operating in the Gulf of Mexico, which already produces some of 
the least-carbon-intensive oil and gas production in the world, 
while leading innovation and investment in technologies and 
practices to continue to reduce an already-small environmental 
footprint.
    For the past 47 years, LLOG has developed some of the best 
offshore projects available to the industry, with an 
uncompromising commitment to safe practices and ethical 
standards. We are one of the largest privately-owned 
exploration and production companies in the United States, and 
currently employ nearly 150 hard-working Americans, and use the 
services of hundreds of contractors on top of that. Thanks to 
advances in technologies and decades of operational experience, 
we are achieving remarkable 68 percent success rate in the deep 
water, and have drilled over 300 wells to date in the OCS, with 
an additional 30 deep water prospects in the portfolio.
    LLOG is a proud company headquartered in Louisiana with our 
employee base in the Gulf Coast. We live and recreate in our 
development areas, and we take seriously our responsibility to 
maintain the health of the Gulf of Mexico and our coastline.
    We also take seriously our obligation and duty to deliver 
energy resources for our country and our community, for our 
national security and economic advancement of our regional and 
national economies. LLOG drilled our first deep water well in 
2002. In the last 20 years, we have grown our capabilities into 
ultra-deep waters while maintaining our focus on safety and 
environmental responsibility.
    Our largest current project today is the Salamanca 
Development, which is a host facility that will support the 
Leon and Castile developments. This facility will exist in over 
6,000 feet of water and 300 miles south of New Orleans. When 
installed next year, it will produce over 50,000 barrels of oil 
per day. A unique aspect of Salamanca is that the floating 
production unit is the first refurbishment of a facility that 
was in production and is being brought back into commerce as a 
producing asset. This operation will result in a reduction of 
approximately 70 percent of emissions in the development of the 
asset versus a new build facility. The other sustainable aspect 
is that the major construction of this project has been 
undertaken in shipyards and construction yards across Texas and 
Louisiana versus all major construction for new build 
facilities generally occurring in Asia.
    For the foreseeable future, the offshore sector will play 
an integral role in shaping an energy system that promotes the 
provision of affordable and reliable energy, while 
simultaneously continuing to reduce environmental impacts, 
including emissions.
    Despite LLOG and our peers across the offshore oil and gas 
industry achieving great success in delivering increasingly-
lower carbon intensity in increasing quantities to Americans, 
our nation's offshore oil and gas market is facing an issue. 
With the smallest 5-year leasing plan in our history now in 
effect, and companies confined to new development in primarily 
only 2 of the United States' 26 offshore planning areas, we are 
at a crossroads for the long-term success of our industry.
    For this reason, it is critical for the United States not 
only to take seriously the role that offshore resources play in 
the security and well-being of the nation, but that Congress 
and the executive branch take reasonable steps to ensure the 
nation's offshore resources are accounted for, developed, and 
available to consumers. This is key not only for our well-being 
of our own citizens, but the well-being and security of the 
people around the world that rely on American oil and gas.
    We appreciate the tremendous work and efforts that the 
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has performed in resource 
assessments, and that the Bureau of Safety and Environmental 
Enforcement has performed in keeping our waters safe, and want 
to see these agencies have the ability to expand their 
assessments in geographic regions. Without complete 
understanding of our untapped offshore energy resources, and 
without a comprehensive leasing policy and permitting law of 
reforms that would allow American companies to bring those 
resources to market, the United States risks operating at a 
competitive disadvantage.
    I look forward to answering questions from the Committee 
today, and thank you again for the opportunity to represent our 
state here in Washington, DC.

    [The prepared statement of Mr. Zimmermann follows:]
 Prepared Statement of Eric Zimmermann, Chief Operating Officer, LLOG 
                      Exploration Company, L.L.C.

    The offshore energy sector is a proven leader in solving energy 
challenges and delivering diverse sources of energy to the global 
economy. Through the National Ocean Industries Association, the entire 
supply chain of companies works together collaboratively to improve our 
performance in all aspects of operations including, among other things, 
emission reductions and workforce development. At LLOG Exploration 
Company, we remain committed to operating in the Gulf of Mexico, which 
already produces some of the least carbon-intensive oil and natural gas 
production in the world, while leading innovation and investment in 
technologies and practices to continue to reduce an already small 
environmental footprint. With our management team averaging 34 years of 
experience in the industry, we have access to an unparalleled knowledge 
base that allows companies like ours to continue to help deliver 
affordable, reliable energy for the American consumer.
    For the past 47 years, LLOG has developed some of the best offshore 
drilling prospects available to the industry with an uncompromising 
commitment to safe practices and ethical standards. Headquartered in 
Covington, LA, we are one of the largest privately-owned exploration 
and production companies in the United States and currently employ 
nearly 150 hardworking Americans and utilize the services of many 
contractors as well. Thanks to advances in technology and decades of 
operational experience, we are achieving a remarkable 68% success rate 
in deepwater exploration, as well as a 94% success rate in deepwater 
development, having drilled over 300 wells to-date, with an additional 
30 deepwater prospects in the portfolio. LLOG is a proud company 
headquartered in Louisiana with our employee base in the Gulf Coast. We 
live and recreate in our development areas and we take seriously our 
responsibility to maintain the health of the Gulf of Mexico and our 
coastline. We also take seriously our obligation and duty to deliver 
energy resources for its country and community for our national 
security and economic advancement of our regional and national economy.
    LLOG drilled its first deepwater Gulf of Mexico well in 2002. In 
the last 20 years we have grown our capability into ultradeep waters 
and deeper reservoirs, while maintaining our focus on safety and 
environmental responsibility for years. Our first major development was 
our Who Dat facility which was the first deepwater facility owned by a 
private company in the Gulf of Mexico. We have proceeded to build 
additional facilities and to commit to subsea tiebacks. One subsea 
tieback that LLOG has recently completed was Taggart field which 
involved a novel approach of tying a subsea discovery directly into a 
third-party operator's subsea infrastructure, resulting in almost a 50% 
reduction in carbon usage and months of timeline improvements.
    Our largest current project is the Salamanca development, which is 
a host facility that will support the Leon and Castile Developments. 
The facility will exist in over 6,000' of water over 300 miles south of 
New Orleans. When installed next year, it will produce around 50,000 
barrels of oil per day. A unique aspect of Salamanca is that the 
floating production unit is the first refurbishment of a facility that 
was in production and is being brought back into commerce as a 
producing asset. This operation will result in a reduction of 
approximately 70% of emissions in the development of the asset versus a 
new build facility. The other aspect is that the major construction for 
this project has been undertaken in shipyards and construction yards in 
Texas and Louisiana versus all major construction for new build 
facilities occurring in Asia.
    For the foreseeable future, the offshore sector will play an 
integral role in shaping an energy system that promotes the provision 
of affordable and reliable energy while simultaneously continuing to 
reduce environmental impacts, including emissions. Importantly, for the 
coming decades, oil and natural gas will remain a vital energy source 
for Americans and our allies around the globe, even as we 
simultaneously add low carbon sources into the mix and find ways to 
lower the environmental impact of our already world-leading hydrocarbon 
production operations.
    Despite LLOG and our peers across the offshore oil and natural gas 
industry achieving great success in delivering increasingly lower-
carbon intensity energy in increasing quantities to Americans and our 
global partners, our nation's offshore oil and natural gas market is 
facing a cliff. With the smallest five-year leasing plan in history now 
in effect, and companies confined to new development in primarily only 
two of the United States' 26 offshore planning areas, we are at a 
crossroads for the long-term success of our industry.
    For this reason, it is critical that the United States not only 
take seriously the role offshore resources play in the security and 
wellbeing of the nation, but that Congress and the Executive Branch 
take reasonable steps to ensure the nation's offshore resources are 
accounted for, developed responsibly, and available to consumers. This 
is key not only for the wellbeing of our own citizens, but the 
wellbeing and security of people around the world that rely on American 
oil and natural gas.
    Without complete understanding of our untapped offshore energy 
resources, and without a comprehensive leasing policy and permitting 
law reforms that would allow American companies to bring these 
resources to market, the United States risks operating at a competitive 
disadvantage.
ENERGY REALITIES

    Energy lifts society and standards of living. A system of reliable, 
abundant, and affordable energy is essential for meeting basic societal 
needs, including healthy living conditions, health care, education, and 
mobility, economic or otherwise. Oil and natural gas fill the fuel 
tanks of passenger vehicles and airplanes. They are transformed into 
the essential building blocks of smartphones, clothing, and medical 
equipment. They are in so many products we use every day that they 
underpin the conveniences of modern life.
    Natural gas is recognized as a key energy source for providing 
electricity, heating, cooling, and clean cooking. More than 750 million 
people around the globe do not have access to electricity, which leaves 
entire communities at a severe and fundamental disadvantage. According 
to the World Health Organization (WHO), ``Access to energy is critical 
when it comes to the functionality of health-care facilities and the 
quality, accessibility and reliability of health services delivered. 
Electricity is necessary for the operation of critically needed medical 
devices such as vaccine refrigeration, surgical emergency, laboratory 
and diagnostic equipment, as well as for the operation of basic 
amenities such as lighting, cooling, ventilation and communications.'' 
\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ https://www.who.int/activities/accelerating-access-to-
electricy-in-health-care-facilities
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    Globally, 2.6 billion people do not have the means for clean 
cooking and must use solid fuels such as wood, crop wastes, charcoal, 
and dung in open fires and inefficient stoves. The WHO attributes 3.8 
million premature deaths each year to indoor air pollution caused by 
the fumes and soot generated by inefficient and dirty cooking.
    The impacts of energy insecurity are not only experienced abroad; 
44 percent of low-income American household's experience energy 
insecurity, spending 10 percent to 20 percent of their income on energy 
expenses.\2\ Energy insecurity has adverse consequences on both 
physical and mental health. Millions of Americans are faced with the 
``heat or eat'' dilemma, regularly having to choose between paying 
utility bills and paying for food.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2020/ph240/radzyminski2/
    \3\ S. Jessel, S. Sawyer, and D. Hernandez, ``Energy, Poverty, and 
Health in Climate Change: A Comprehensive Review of an Emerging 
Literature,'' Front. Public Health 7, 357 (2019).
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    Energy production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico demonstrates that it 
is possible to develop offshore resources while adhering to the highest 
safety and environmental standards. A multitude of companies involved 
in offshore energy development are working collaboratively to shrink an 
already small carbon footprint. From electrifying operations to 
deploying innovative solutions that reduce the size, weight, and part 
count of offshore infrastructure--thus increasing safety and decreasing 
emissions--the U.S. Gulf of Mexico hosts a high-tech revolution.
    Currently, global oil consumption is approximately 100 million 
barrels per day. Various scenarios forecast global oil consumption 
volumes through 2050 and beyond, and nearly all of them predict 
substantial oil production will be necessary through 2050. The facts, 
data, and our experience make clear that we should focus on the U.S. 
offshore region, and the Gulf of Mexico in particular, for securing 
those vital resources.
    Oil produced from the U.S. Gulf of Mexico has a carbon intensity 
one-half that of other producing regions.\4\ The technologies used in 
deepwater production--which represents 92 percent of the oil produced 
in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico--place this region among the lowest carbon 
intensity oil-producing regions in the world.\5\ Policies that restrict 
domestic offshore development require imports to make up the shortfall, 
and that supplemental production comes from higher-emitting operations 
in other countries. Foreign providers generally employ less 
environmentally conscientious production methods, which when combined 
with the added emissions from transporting oil over great distances by 
tanker, increases the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere 
rather than decreasing it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ Motiwala, and Ismail, ``Statistical Study of Carbon Intensities 
in the GOM and PB,'' ChemRxiv, April 13, 2020.
    \5\ https://www.woodmac.com/news/the-challenge-of-negative-
emissions/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Emissions reduction is a global challenge. As analysts at Wood 
Mackenzie explain, ``Removing or handicapping a low emitter hurts the 
collective global average.'' \6\ This is a debilitating solution with 
devastating consequences. The better choice is to institute government 
policies that promote cleaner and safer domestic production, less 
reliance on higher-emitting foreign suppliers like Russia and China, 
and the preservation of hundreds of thousands of American jobs.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\ https://www.woodmac.com/news/opinion/could-restricting-oil-
production-in-the-us-gulf-of-mexico-lead-to-carbon-leakage/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    On the other hand, restricting U.S. offshore energy development 
could eventually lead to Americans of every walk of life having to 
contend with the issues Europe has been experiencing as a result of 
disrupted supply from Russia, including potential industrial 
curtailment and families having to make difficult choices between heat 
and food. Our energy reality makes it clear that U.S. energy policy 
should support U.S. offshore energy production of all types, including 
oil and natural gas, as well as wind. Government policies play a 
substantial role in the ability to develop energy in the U.S., whether 
onshore or offshore, and whether the energy source is oil and natural 
gas, wind, solar, hydrogen, or other sources. Obstructive government 
policies inevitably lead to adverse consequences for our energy 
security, national security, economic security, and decarbonization 
efforts.
OFFSHORE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT ENHANCES ENERGY SECURITY

Oil and Natural Gas Will Be Crucial Energy Sources for Decades to Come
    Oil and natural gas touch every part of our daily lives. 
Fundamentally, ``Everything that is fabricated, grown, operated or 
moved is made possible by hydrocarbons.'' \7\ The U.S. Department of 
Energy states:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \7\ Mark Mills, Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2019

        Oil and natural gas play an essential role in powering 
        America's vibrant economy and fueling a remarkable quality of 
        life in the United States. Together, oil and natural gas 
        provide more than two-thirds of the energy Americans consume 
        daily, and we will continue to rely on them in the future. In 
        addition to meeting our energy needs, oil and natural gas are 
        integral to our standard of living in ways that are often not 
        apparent. Several key advances in technology enabled a dramatic 
        increase in domestic oil and natural gas production over the 
        past 20 years. This increased production provides energy 
        security and economic benefits to the entire country, and 
        ongoing technology advances will help us to enjoy those 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        benefits into the future.

        Oil and natural gas are used in many ways that are familiar to 
        consumers. Petroleum products power transportation, providing 
        fuel for cars, trucks, marine vessels, locomotives, and 
        airplanes. Natural gas generates more than one-third of the 
        electricity needed for dependable heating, air conditioning, 
        lighting, industrial production, refrigeration, and other 
        essential services, and tens of millions of Americans rely on 
        oil and natural gas to heat their homes directly and on clean 
        burning natural gas to cook their food. But petroleum products 
        do so much more than fuel our cars and power our homes and 
        businesses.

        While perhaps less recognized, oil and natural gas also play 
        critical roles in supplying essential products and materials, 
        increasing agricultural productivity, and supporting the 
        expansion of new energy sources.

        Oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids are building blocks 
        for a range of modern materials used to produce life-changing 
        prosthetics, energy-efficient homes, safer cars that go farther 
        on a gallon of gasoline, and hundreds more consumer products 
        that Americans use every day. Plastics and chemicals derived 
        from oil and natural gas make our food safer, our clothing more 
        comfortable, our homes easier to care for, and our daily lives 
        more convenient.

        Natural gas is also a key ingredient for chemical fertilizers, 
        helping increase crop production and yield per acre planted, 
        and powering many important operations on the farm like crop 
        drying.\8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \8\ U.S. OIL AND NATURAL GAS: Providing Energy Security and 
Supporting Our Quality of Life, U.S. Department of Energy, September 
2020, p. 4.

    According to the United Nations, access to affordable, reliable, 
and sustainable energy is critical to achieving many international 
development goals, specifically, the eradication of poverty through 
continued improvements in education, health, and access to water.\9\ 
Oil and natural gas play a central role in eliminating poverty and 
raising the standard of living for millions by serving as a key form of 
abundant and affordable energy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \9\ https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2016/goal-07/
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OFFSHORE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT IMPROVES ENERGY AFFORDABILITY

    The cost of energy is fundamentally driven by supply and demand, 
and recently, global markets have been disrupted by a supply crunch in 
both the oil and natural gas markets. The energy paradigm has shifted 
over the past decade, with the United States rising to a position of 
energy power and emerging as the leading producer of both oil and 
natural gas in the world.

        Vice Chairman of IHS Markit Daniel Yergin explains how things 
        have changed:

        According to the old script, United States oil production was 
        too marginal to affect world oil prices. But the gap today 
        between demand and available supply on the world market is 
        narrow. The additional oil Saudi Arabia is putting into the 
        market will help replace Iranian exports as they are 
        increasingly squeezed out of the market by sanctions . . .. But 
        if America's increase . . . [in oil production] . . . had not 
        occurred, then the world oil market would be even tighter. We 
        would be looking at much higher prices--and voters would be 
        even angrier.\10\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \10\ Daniel Yergin, ``America's New Energy Reality,'' The New York 
Times, June 9, 2012

    Mr. Yergin made this point in 2012 at the outset of the shale 
revolution, but the significance of U.S. production for global energy 
markets is as important as ever today. In fact, Mr. Yergin reiterated 
this very point in February this year in the aptly title op-ed in the 
Wall Street Journal, ``America Takes Pole Position on Oil and Gas.''
    Analysts recognize that the downturn in the oil and natural gas 
industry from 2014-2020, combined with ill-conceived policies and 
investment approaches, led to significant underinvestment in oil and 
natural gas exploration and infrastructure. According to Simon Flower, 
Chairman, Chief Analyst at Wood Mackenzie and author of a weekly column 
called The Edge, ``Underinvestment in oil supply will lead to a tight 
oil market later this decade. It's a narrative that's gained increasing 
traction as capital expenditure on upstream oil and gas has shrunk. 
Spend in 2021 is half the peak of 2014 after slumping to new depths in 
[2021's] crisis.'' \11\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \11\ https://www.woodmac.com/news/the-edge/is-the-world-
sleepwalking-into-an-oil-supply-crunch/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Mr. Flowers poses the question, ``How much new oil supply does the 
world need?'' His answer is, ``A lot--we reckon about 20 million b/d 
from 2022 to 2030.'' According to Flowers, ``This is the `supply gap', 
the difference between our estimate of demand in 2030 and the volumes 
we forecast existing fields already onstream or under development can 
deliver.'' \12\ If his numbers are correct, a huge amount of new oil is 
needed to close the expected gap between the supply and demand and help 
bring stability and affordability to oil and petroleum product prices.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \12\ https://www.woodmac.com/news/the-edge/is-the-world-
sleepwalking-into-an-oil-supply-crunch/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Rystad Energy echoes the concern about the supply gap and the huge 
amount of investment needed to close it. According to Rystad, more 
exploration for oil and gas is needed to supply the volumes needed 
worldwide by 2050.\13\ In fact, it will take massive investment just to 
keep pace with growing demand. Rystad suggests capital expenditures of 
at least $3 trillion will be required to replenish declining production 
from currently producing assets around the world to meet expected 
global demand in 2050.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \13\ https://www.offshore-mag.com/drilling-completion/article/
14188804/exploration-overdrive-urgently-required-rystad-energy-report-
claims
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    We are fortunate in the United States that our Gulf of Mexico 
region is up to the task of delivering the oil and gas the economy 
needs. Production numbers from the U.S. Gulf of Mexico place it in the 
company of some of the largest oil producing countries. If the Gulf of 
Mexico were its own country, it would be one of the top 11 oil 
producing countries:

[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


    Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration.

OFFSHORE LEASING PROVIDES AMONG THE LOWEST CARBON BARRELS IN THE WORLD

    The U.S. offshore operates under one of the strongest regulatory 
and oversight regimes in the world, which means production here in the 
United States is more environmentally friendly than operations in many 
producing regions in the world. The carbon intensity of the Gulf of 
Mexico is 50 percent of that of other producing regions.\14\ Part of 
the reason is that U.S. Gulf of Mexico developments deliver high 
volumes of oil and gas with a far smaller physical footprint. In 2019, 
18 offshore facilities (with a combined surface area equal to about 
nine city blocks) produced 75 percent of offshore production.\15\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \14\ Motiwala, and Ismail, ``Statistical Study of Carbon 
Intensities in the GOM and PB,'' ChemRxiv, April 13, 2020.
    \15\ Director Scott Angelle, BSEE Director, BSEE Presentation to 
the Deepwater Technical Symposium, November 13, 2020.

[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


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    Source: Wood Mackenzie

    Management practices and related regulations for venting and 
flaring of methane in the offshore have helped to dramatically reduce 
the practice in the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. Gulf of Mexico accounted 
for 15% of U.S. oil production in 2019, yet EIA data shows venting and 
flaring emissions from offshore oil and gas operations accounted for a 
mere 2.6% percent of nationwide energy production venting and flaring 
emissions in 2019.\16\ EPA data also shows methane emissions from 
offshore oil and gas production accounted for less than one percent of 
total nationwide methane emissions in 2019.\17\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \16\ https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/ng_prod_sum_a_EPG0_VGV_mmcf_a.htm
    \17\ Draft 2021 Greenhouse Gas Inventory
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In short, the U.S. and the world depend upon reliable supplies of 
oil and natural gas for a high quality of life and to lift people out 
of poverty, and U.S. offshore production should be the basin of choice 
for producing that energy because of demonstrably lower GHG and 
environmental impacts for an energy source we will continue to need for 
years to come.
    In fact, a 2016 report at the end of the Obama administration--
issued under then-Secretary Sally Jewell--stated, ``U.S. GHG emissions 
would be higher if BOEM were to have no lease sales . . .. Emissions 
from substitutions are higher due to exploration, development, 
production, and transportation of oil from international sources being 
more carbon intensive.'' \18\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \18\ https://www.boem.gov/sites/default/files/oil-and-gas-energy-
program/Leasing/Five-Year-Program/2017-2022/OCS-Report-BOEM-2016-065--
OCS-Oil-and-Natural-Gas---Potential-Lifecycle-GHG-Emissions-and-Social-
Cost-of-Carbon.pdf. Although court decisions have questioned components 
of the methodology the Obama administration used in this report, the 
fundamental proposition remains--a ``no leasing'' scenario must 
consider the impacts of fuel-switching, which, as shown by the outside 
experts discussed below, will lead to higher GHG emissions because of 
the unusually low GOM carbon intensity.

    Recent research from multiple sources continues to validate the low 
carbon benefits of U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil leasing and production: \19\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \19\ A recent study by researchers at the University of Arizona and 
elsewhere suggests that methane emissions from offshore shallow water 
facilities has been underestimated. However, 92 percent of offshore oil 
production is from deepwater, which is consistently recognized for low 
methane and low overall carbon emissions. The recent study analyzed 
just 8 percent of total shallow water facilities, with many of the 
facilities outside of federal jurisdiction in state waters, using a 
relatively new technique. Many NOIA members with facilities in federal 
shallow waters have focused on methane management, deploying 
technologies such as leak detection or electrifying activities to the 
extent feasible. In any event, the offshore industry will continue to 
review relevant data, including this recent research, as part of the 
ongoing process of learning and improvement.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wood Mackenzie:

    According to Wood Mackenzie, reducing oil production from the U.S. 
Gulf of Mexico would increase the average emissions rate for global oil 
production:

        Using our recently updated Emissions Benchmarking Tool, which 
        profiles emissions for more than 2,800 oil and gas assets 
        around the world, [researchers] Oberstoetter and Usoro were 
        able to compare the carbon intensity of the principal sources 
        of crude used in the US. Numerous factors drive the differences 
        in intensity: emissions in Venezuela, Colombia and Canada are 
        driven by the more energy-intensive processes needed to produce 
        the heavier crude qualities, while in Iraq flaring is the big 
        problem. The overall picture is clear, however: the deep water 
        of the Gulf of Mexico is one of the lowest-carbon sources of 
        oil used in the US, with only Saudi Arabia coming in lower. In 
        the light of that, Oberstoetter and Usoro argue, restrictions 
        on US production in the Gulf could end up having a 
        counterproductive impact on global emissions. ``Removing or 
        handicapping a low emitter hurts the collective global 
        average.'' \20\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \20\ https://www.woodmac.com/news/the-challenge-of-negative-
emissions/
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McKinsey:

    In the report titled ``How the Gulf of Mexico can further the 
energy transition,'' McKinsey describes four key factors that give the 
deepwater Gulf of Mexico a ``low carbon advantage'':

        First, in contrast to other regions where flaring natural gas 
        without a market is more commonplace, most of the natural gas 
        produced in the Gulf of Mexico is sold to local markets, which 
        results in minimal routine flaring and, consequently, less GHG 
        emissions. Second, the facilities have efficient, modern 
        designs that minimize methane leakage. Third, wells and 
        production facilities have a high throughput, minimizing the 
        number of energy-intensive processes required to bring on new 
        supply, such as drilling. And fourth, operators have made 
        active decarbonization efforts to stay in line with 
        environmental sustainability goals and in compliance with 
        regulations.\21\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \21\ Brown, Di Fiori, Smith, and Yanosek, ``Deepwater Gulf of 
Mexico's role during the energy transition,'' McKinsey, September 2022, 
at pages 3-4.

    McKinsey estimates production from the U.S. Gulf of Mexico could 
decrease by about 800,000 barrels per day by 2040 without additional 
projects beyond those that have already been sanctioned. In that 
situation, McKinsey expects lost production would be made up by 
substitutions from other parts of the world without much oil demand 
destruction. The country would be able to import sufficient oil, but it 
would come from higher-emitting basins, resulting in an increase in 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
greenhouse gas emissions globally:

        This supply reduction would have to be offset by alternative 
        sources to meet global demand, which could hinder net-zero 
        goals significantly. Because many other oil producing regions 
        globally have total unit costs similar to those in the Gulf of 
        Mexico, global oil price increases or substitution with other 
        energy sources wouldn't be expected, and global demand for oil 
        would remain unchanged. Instead, the reduced Gulf supply would 
        be offset by production increases from other sources, such as 
        other deepwater basins, shale, and OPEC. Based on the higher 
        emissions per barrel of this new supply, global emissions would 
        increase by 50 million to 100 million metric tons of 
        CO2e through 2040.\22\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \22\ Brown, Di Fiori, Smith, and Yanosek, ``Deepwater Gulf of 
Mexico's role during the energy transition,'' McKinsey, September 2022, 
at page 6.

    Offshore energy is a true story of accomplishing more with less--
creating more energy with less environmental impact. Offshore 
production platforms are incredible edifices of continuously evolving 
technology that allow enormous amounts of energy to be produced through 
a relatively small footprint. Incredibly, 18 deepwater facilities, 
which equate to about the size of only nine city blocks, produce about 
the same amount of oil as the entire state of North Dakota.\23\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \23\ Director Scott Angelle, BSEE Director, BSEE Presentation to 
the Deepwater Technical Symposium, November 13, 2020.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
PERMITTING

    From a regulatory standpoint, federal government policy should 
serve to eliminate potential roadblocks to investment in energy 
projects, including offshore wind. As the Administration reviews and 
reworks regulations, such as the National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA), it will be important to ensure changes to bedrock environmental 
policy are done in a way that enhances environmental protection and 
energy development. Environmental stewardship and energy and economic 
progress are not mutually exclusive; NOIA members have consistently 
been leaders in both arenas. Promulgating rules that balance the need 
for energy development with effective environmental stewardship will 
provide the certainty massive investments require.
    Timely, transparent and rational NEPA processes are of significant 
importance to project developers, investors, employees, and contractors 
whose jobs and livelihoods are tied to projects subject to NEPA 
reviews. Preconstruction delays for projects typically add costs and 
delay the delivery of the benefits that projects can bring. Delays and 
associated cost increases may result in projects being canceled 
altogether. In today's globalized economy, where there is a high level 
of competition for the world's investment, increasing uncertainty and 
delays in the federal permitting process can serve to drive investments 
elsewhere. The United States needs these investments to remain 
competitive and to support long term economic growth, as well as to 
elevate the quality of life for communities that most acutely need 
these investments.
    Lack of clarity in the NEPA process does not only impact the time 
it takes a federal agency to act, but also increases litigation risk. 
Because of its broad applicability across sectors and agencies, NEPA is 
often at the center of project opponents' litigation strategy in 
seeking to delay and block both federal and nonfederal activities. In 
response to the threat of litigation, agencies prepare NEPA analyses in 
defense of potential litigation, attempting to anticipate every 
possible objection that could be raised in court, however insignificant 
and however detached from the intent of NEPA--with mixed ultimate 
success. The result is that over time NEPA has become less about 
informing agencies and the public of environmental impacts of 
significance, and more about agencies attempting to avoid lengthy and 
costly litigation. Several NEPA-related legal challenges have already 
been filed over the approvals of the construction and operation plans 
for the early-mover offshore wind projects. Congress should continue to 
consider permitting legislation to streamline the process and reduce 
the investment and litigation uncertainty.
CONCLUSION

    Our national energy needs require continued supplies of oil and 
natural gas. Continued U.S. offshore oil and natural gas development 
provides vast benefits and a sensible pathway for energy security for 
the next few decades. At the same time, the U.S. offshore sector is 
contributing to the development of low and zero carbon energy options, 
including offshore wind, hydrogen and carbon removal technologies.
    Thank you for the opportunity to testify on behalf of the offshore 
energy industry. LLOG and the members of NOIA stand ready to work with 
policy makers to advance policies to ensure that Americans can rely 
upon an affordable and reliable energy system built upon strong pillars 
of energy, economic, and environmental security.

                                 ______
                                 

    Mr. Stauber. Thank you for your testimony. Our final 
witness is Mr. Tyson Slocum. He is the Director of the Energy 
Program for Public Citizen, and is based here in Washington, 
DC.
    Mr. Slocum, you are now recognized for 5 minutes.

  STATEMENT OF TYSON SLOCUM, DIRECTOR, ENERGY PROGRAM, PUBLIC 
                    CITIZEN, WASHINGTON, DC

    Mr. Slocum. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman, Ranking 
Member, and members of the Committee. Like the Chairman said, I 
am Tyson Slocum, and for the last quarter century I have 
directed the energy program for Public Citizen here in DC, 
where we represent the interests of household consumers.
    Today, the United States is producing more oil and gas than 
any nation in the history of world. As the Ranking Member 
pointed out, we are the largest oil and natural gas producer on 
the planet.
    The President doesn't talk about this a lot, but under 
President Biden's term, it is clear that the United States has 
achieved fossil fuel energy dominance. The catch is that, while 
we are producing record amounts of oil and gas, we are 
producing more than we domestically consume. And that has 
turned the United States into the world's largest fossil fuel 
exporter.
    We are exporting almost one out of every three barrels of 
oil that we produce here in the United States every day. So, we 
are exporting more than 4 million barrels of oil every day, and 
an additional 6 million barrels of refined petroleum products 
every day. China is the recipient of almost a million barrels 
of exported petroleum from the United States every single day. 
So, almost 1 out of every 10 barrels of petroleum exports from 
the United States are going to one of our adversaries, China.
    The Gulf of Mexico oil production has increased more than 
40 percent over the last decade and every year of the Biden 
administration. But growing shares of Gulf of Mexico oil 
production is not going to result in lower energy burdens for 
American families because the proximity of oil production is 
going to be aligned with all of the export terminals, because 
99 percent of all of our oil exports are being exported out of 
the Texas and Louisiana Gulf.
    The Gulf of Mexico oil and gas industry consistently fails 
to meet their decommissioning obligations. As more of the 
industry's profits come from exporting oil, it is outrageous 
that the industry fails to invest those profits into abandoned 
well cleanup and other liabilities. The GAO just months ago 
estimates that the current Gulf of Mexico well cleanup 
liabilities are as high as $70 billion in excess of what the 
industry has pledged to support. That is a looming taxpayer 
bailout that should not fall on the hard-working taxpayers of 
the United States, but on the oil and gas industry that, as the 
Ranking Member accurately pointed out, are experiencing some of 
the largest profits in their history, primarily driven by the 
fatter profits that they can earn from exporting America's oil 
and gas.
    As the Ranking Member pointed out, we are relying too 
heavily on the use of categorical exclusions by Federal 
offshore oil and gas regulators for exploration and production 
plans. The use of such exclusions have to be discontinued in 
order to ensure the protection of sensitive Gulf of Mexico 
marine ecosystems.
    Oil export terminals that are currently subject to the 
Deepwater Ports Act should have to comply with a modernized 
national interest standard that takes into account the consumer 
and environmental effects of America's record oil exports, 
including banning any such exports to foreign adversaries like 
China.
    This hearing is titled, ``Assessing Solutions to Secure 
America's Offshore Energy Future.'' Any sort of balanced 
approach would have to take into account the ability for the 
Gulf of Mexico to produce renewable energy like from wind 
power. Just in the last year, we have seen successful offshore 
wind leases conducted by both the Federal Government and the 
state of Louisiana that demonstrate the viability of offshore 
wind to provide 100 percent clean energy for citizens and 
industries on the Gulf Coast. We are seeing a proliferation of 
offshore wind-associated industry in Gulf port communities that 
need to be emphasized in order to continue to grow offshore 
wind capability.
    Thank you so much for your time, and I look forward to your 
questions.

    [The prepared statement of Mr. Slocum follows:]
  Prepared Statement of Tyson Slocum, Energy Program Director, Public 
                                Citizen

    Assessing Solutions to Secure America's Offshore Energy Future: 
      Limitations and Liabilities of Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling

    I am Tyson Slocum, and I direct the Energy Program at Public 
Citizen. Public Citizen is a national consumer advocacy organization 
with more than 500,000 members and supporters across the country. I 
serve on two advisory committees to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading 
Commission (Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee, and 
the Market Risk Advisory Committee), and am a faculty member at the 
University of Maryland. I oversee Public Citizen's work on petroleum, 
natural gas and electric power markets, including intervening in 
adjudicatory proceedings at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 
and the U.S. Department of Energy on behalf of household consumers.

    The title of today's hearing is Assessing Solutions to Secure 
America's Offshore Energy Future. No nation in history has ever 
produced as much oil and natural gas as the United States does today. 
We are not only the world's largest oil and natural gas producer, but 
also the biggest exporter of petroleum and natural gas. Federal 
offshore oil production in the Gulf of Mexico reached its 2nd highest 
output in history in 2023, behind only 2019.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/
LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=mcrfp3fm2&f=a

[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

    The data quite clearly demonstrates that, during President Joe 
Biden's term, America has achieved energy dominance: we now produce 
more petroleum and natural gas than we domestically consume. But so-
called energy dominance in oil and gas production does not and cannot 
deliver consistently low gasoline or natural gas prices to American 
consumers, because our record exports ensure our domestic prices are 
firmly linked to global markets, exposing Americans to inherent pricing 
volatility.
    Expanding production of oil and natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico 
will provide no price relief for American consumers struggling with 
stubbornly high energy burdens. Absent reforms, Gulf of Mexico oil and 
gas operations will expose American taxpayers to looming liabilities 
inherent in offshore oil and gas production. Indeed, today's hearing is 
two days shy of the 14th anniversary of the BP Deepwater Horizon 
disaster, one of the largest industrial catastrophes in American 
history. Reforms are needed to ensure the protection of the Gulf of 
Mexico marine ecosystem, American taxpayers, and our national security.

    My testimony has four highlights:

     A discussion of America's Offshore Energy Future must 
            include a commitment to expand offshore wind energy 
            production.

     The BOEM Risk Management and Financial Assurance final 
            rule published April 15 is a necessary first step to 
            protect taxpayers by requiring offshore leaseholders to 
            post increased bonding requirements to ensure they can meet 
            their decommissioning obligations.

     BOEM must discontinue the use of categorical exclusions 
            for offshore Gulf of Mexico oil and gas exploration, 
            development and production plans.

     Oil export terminals subject to the Deepwater Ports Act 
            should comply with a modernized national interest standard 
            that takes into account the consumer and environmental 
            effects of America's record oil exports, including banning 
            any such exports to adversaries like China.

Wind Power Is Essential To Secure America's Offshore Energy Future

    While Gulf of Mexico energy production has historically been 
exclusive to oil and gas, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management 
completed its first successful lease sale for offshore wind in August 
2023, with RWE submitting the winning $5.6 million bid for OCS-G-7334 
off Lake Charles, LA--suitable for a wind system to power more than 
435,000 homes.\2\ Some analysts noted the first auction results were 
lackluster, as U.S. states on the Gulf of Mexico haven't implemented 
electricity offtake agreements and other state policy mechanisms that 
are driving a more robust wind energy industry on the offshore Atlantic 
coast of the U.S.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ www.boem.gov/renewable-energy/state-activities/gulf-mexico-
activities
    \3\ Kelsey Tamborrino, Gulf of Mexico offshore wind auction brings 
in lackluster bids, E&E News, August 29, 2023.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    That said, one of the reasons why RWE's bid may have been 
successful was because the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding 
with the regional electric utility, Entergy, on a plan to deliver 
offshore Gulf of Mexico wind to Entergy's customers.\4\ To facilitate 
equitable financing of offshore wind electricity offtake agreements, it 
may be necessary to explore federal or regional funding of such 
projects, so as not to overburden a single utility's ratepayers. 
Coordination between Gulf of Mexico offshore wind developers and the 
utilities responsible for delivering power to customers will be 
necessary for the industry to grow in the region. BOEM is in the midst 
of planning a second Gulf of Mexico offshore wind energy lease auction, 
possibly executing the auction by October 2024.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ www.entergynewsroom.com/news/rwe-entergy-partner-define-route-
market-for-offshore-wind-in-gulf-mexico/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Following the August 2023 federal auction, Louisiana held a 
successful lease sale in state waters, with Mitsubishi winning a bid 
for its wind facility off the shores of Terrebonne and Lafourche 
parishes, and Vestas securing acreage off the coast of Lake Charles.\5\ 
This is the first phase of Louisiana's target of generating 5 gigawatts 
of power from offshore wind by 2035.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ Heather Richards, Louisiana inks first-ever offshore wind 
deals, Greenwire, December 14, 2023.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The job and economic benefits of offshore wind in the Gulf of 
Mexico can be significant. A 2020 assessment by the U.S. Department of 
Energy concludes that a single, 600 MW wind facility offshore from Port 
Arthur, TX would support 4,470 construction jobs with $445 million in 
gross domestic product (GDP) and 150 permanent jobs with $14 million 
GDP annually from operation and maintenance labor, materials, and 
services.\6\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\ www.nrel.gov/news/program/2020/studies-find-gulf-of-mexico-
well-positioned-for-offshore-wind-development.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Gulf of Mexico ports and shipbuilding facilities can also be 
calibrated to serve the offshore wind industry. More than 600 employees 
are at work in Louisiana building the Eco Edison, the first U.S.-built 
vessel to service offshore wind farms; Dominion Energy is spending $500 
million on the first US-built wind installation vessel, the 472-foot 
Charybdis, in Brownsville, TX; and hundreds of people are working on 
the first US-built substation near Corpus Christi.\7\ Indeed, the U.S. 
Department of Treasury just issued a ``clarifying'' notice expanding 
the types of projects and areas that qualify for the Inflation 
Reduction Act's bonus credit for energy communities, detailing how 
offshore wind projects may attribute nameplate capacity to supervisory 
control and data acquisition system equipment located in ports that 
qualify as ``energy communities''.\8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \7\ www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-05-22/oil-workers-in-gulf-
of-mexico-find-jobs-in-offshore-wind
    \8\ Notice 2024-30, www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-24-30.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Protecting Taxpayers From Offshore Oil and Gas Liabilities

    Quite fittingly, on the deadline for Americans to file their income 
taxes with the IRS, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued a 
final rule April 15 to protect taxpayers by requiring companies seeking 
to drill oil and natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico to put more money up 
front to cover future well decommissioning liabilities.\9\ The rule is 
necessary because oil and gas corporations have failed in their 
responsibility to clean up and safeguard their non-operating wells in 
the Gulf of Mexico. Thousands of jobs would be created by a program to 
properly plug and decommission orphan wells in the Gulf of Mexico.\10\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \9\ www.boem.gov/sites/default/files/documents/oil-gas-energy/risk-
management/Risk_Rule.pdf
    \10\ www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/
OffshoreWells-CGEP_Report_ 111022.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    According to a GAO investigation released three months ago, more 
than 2,700 wells and 500 platforms were overdue for decommissioning in 
the Gulf of Mexico, with the federal government holding only $3.5 
billion in bonds from companies to cover a potential well 
decommissioning cost of as much as $70 billion.\11\ The offshore oil 
and gas industry has an abysmal record of cleaning up its mess, 
threatening the American taxpayer with billions of dollars in unfunded 
cleanup liabilities. While this week's final Risk Management and 
Financial Assurance rule is a good start to begin forcing oil and gas 
companies to cover their own cleanup and decommissioning costs, the 
rule doesn't go nearly far enough to hold the offshore drilling 
industry accountable. BOEM needs to ``tighten eligibility on who can 
bid on a lease or acquire an existing lease in federal waters. For 
existing and future leases, we recommend that regardless of the lease 
owner's size, each and every single well, and each and every piece of 
infrastructure should possess financial assurance equal to the cost of 
decommissioning and plugging and abandonment.'' \12\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \11\ Interior Needs to Improve Decommissioning Enforcement and 
Mitigate Related Risks, GAO-24-106229, Jan 25, 2024, www.gao.gov/
products/gao-24-106229
    \12\ Comments of Megan Milliken Biven, True Transition, 
www.regulations.gov/comment/BOEM-2023-0027-1696
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Nationwide, oil and gas production has soared over the past 15 
years. Though domestic production has surged, exports have surged since 
2015 when President Barack Obama negotiated and signed into law the 
repeal of the 40-year old ban on exporting oil from the United States. 
Exporting oil and refined petroleum products puts upward pressure on 
domestic prices.
    Over the past three years, oil and gas giants have been earning 
record profits, as worldwide crude oil prices have remained above $65 
per barrel since 2021, but the industry's history of boom-bust cycles 
suggests that this state of affairs will now be permanent. Through the 
2010s, oil and gas executives ramped up production at all costs, even 
though doing so created a supply glut that depressed prices. Low oil 
and gas prices then battered the industry in the late 2010s, and the 
drop in demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 caused prices 
to plunge even further. More than 600 oil and gas companies filed for 
bankruptcy from 2015 through 2021, including 274 oil and gas producers, 
according to the energy industry law firm Haynes and Boone.\13\ Notable 
offshore drilling bankruptcies include Cox Operating,\14\ Fieldwood 
Energy,\15\ Diamond Offshore,\16\ and Noble Corp.\17\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \13\ Haynes and Boone, LLP Oil Patch Bankruptcy Monitor 2022. 
https://tinyurl.com/4sdyxh3p
    \14\ www.nola.com/news/business/louisiana-oil-company-cox-
operating-files-for-bankruptcy/article_6ee3ad4c-06f4-11ee-af49-
e344fd063b30.html

    \15\ https://grist.org/accountability/oil-gas-bankruptcy-fieldwood-
energy-petroshare/
    \16\ https://investor.diamondoffshore.com/news-releases/news-
release-details/diamond-offshore-completes-financial-restructuring
    \17\ https://gcaptain.com/noble-emerges-from-chapter-11-bankruptcy/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In addition to failing to cover their own offshore well 
decommissioning liabilities, the offshore oil and gas industry has a 
poor track record of compliance with existing operational and safety 
regulations. The Federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement 
has fined offshore oil and gas companies more than $46.5 million since 
2000, according to Violation Tracker, a watchdog site.\18\ Meanwhile, 
more than a decade after the 2020 Deepwater Horizon disaster, members 
of the bipartisan commission formed to prevent a repeat of the tragedy 
have said their reforms were ignored and have warned that another 
disaster as all too possible.\19\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \18\ Violation Tracker, Good Jobs First https://tinyurl.com/
ykebkd4p
    \19\ www.nytimes.com/2020/04/19/climate/deepwater-horizon-
anniversary.html

[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Source: Public Citizen analysis of Violation Tracker data

    In addition, oil production in the Gulf of Mexico involves massive 
leaks of methane. Independent scientific research documents methane 
emissions in the Gulf of Mexico oil operations far in excess of what 
industry reports to the government.\20\ Media reports have documented 
unprecedented methane plumes from Gulf of Mexico oil operations.\21\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \20\ www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2215275120
    \21\ https://lailluminator.com/2023/02/08/growing-body-of-research-
suggests-offshore-oils-methane-pollution-is-underestimated/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Discontinue Categorical Exclusions For Offshore Gulf Of Mexico Oil And 
        Gas Exploration, Development And Production Plans

    The U.S. Department of Interior first utilized a categorical 
exclusion from having a specific exploration and production plan from 
having to comply with National Environmental Policy Act in 1981, and 
its use by BOEM has proliferated since then, with BOEM using 
categorical exclusions for a quarter of all Gulf of Mexico exploration 
plans over the last several years.\22\ Indeed, Interior granted a 
categorical exclusion to BP for its Macondo well that experienced a 
catastrophic failure in 2010. BOEM's overreliance on categorical 
exclusions puts the health and safety of people and the Gulf of Mexico 
environment needlessly at risk. Interior should establish a policy 
immediately terminating the use of categorical exclusions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \22\ www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/offshore_oil_drilling/
pdfs/BOEM-petition-re-categorical-exclusions-7-12-23.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
America's Record Exports of Petroleum and Natural Gas Reward China And 
        Place American Families At Risk Of Higher Prices

    While the United States is today producing the most crude oil of 
any nation in history, we are also the world's largest exporter of 
petroleum.\23\ We exported nearly 1 million barrels per day of American 
crude and refined petroleum to China in 2023, smashing the all-time 
record.\24\ That means one out of every ten barrels of oil the United 
States exported in 2023 went to China. Nearly all crude oil exports 
(99%) exit the United States from the Gulf Coast, which means Gulf of 
Mexico oil production is logistically slated for export.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \23\ www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=61703 and www.eia.gov/
todayinenergy/detail.php ?id=61584
    \24\ www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/
LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MTTEXCH2&f=A
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In 2015, President Barack Obama negotiated and signed legislation 
ending the 40-year de facto-ban on crude oil exports, retaining limited 
emergency authority to control exports: ``The President may impose 
export licensing requirements or other restrictions on the export of 
crude oil from the United States for a period of not more than 1 year, 
if the President declares a national emergency and formally notices the 
declaration of a national emergency in the Federal Register.'' \25\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \25\ Title I (``Oil Exports''), Section 101: www.congress.gov/114/
plaws/publ113/PLAW-114publ 113.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    While Congress regulated natural gas as an essential utility 
service when it passed the Natural Gas Act of 1938--deeming the natural 
gas industry to be ``affected with a public interest, and that Federal 
regulation in matters relating to the transportation of natural gas and 
the sale thereof in interstate and foreign commerce is necessary in the 
public interest'' \26\--there is no consumer protection equivalent for 
petroleum. However, oil that is exported via deepwater ports are 
subject to the Deepwater Port Act of 1974, which requires ``the 
construction and operation'' of any deepwater port--including certain 
oil export terminals--must ``be in the national interest and consistent 
with national security and other national policy goals and objectives, 
including energy sufficiency and environmental quality''.\27\ Congress 
should clarify whether record oil exports to adversaries like China are 
``in the national interest''.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \26\ 15 USC Sec. 717(a).
    \27\ 33 USC Sec. 1503(c)(3).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                 ______
                                 

   Questions Submitted for the Record to Mr. Tyson Slocum, Director, 
                     Energy Program, Public Citizen

Mr. Slocum did not submit responses to the Committee by the appropriate 
deadline for inclusion in the printed record.

             Questions Submitted by Representative Grijalva

    Question 1. During the hearing, Representative Graves challenged 
several of your earlier statements on the environmental impacts of 
offshore drilling and infra-structure. Could you please elaborate on or 
clarify your statements for the record?

                                 ______
                                 

    Mr. Graves [presiding]. Thank you, Mr. Slocum. I appreciate 
all of your testimony.
    I will tell you what. Can I put you on the spot? You want 
to go first? I have my displays over there, so I am a little 
out of pocket here.
    Ms. Kamlager-Dove. This is bipartisanship at work. Thank 
you, Mr. Chair.
    Mr. Slocum, as I mentioned in my opening statement, we are 
just days away from the 14th anniversary of the Deepwater 
Horizon disaster. And one of the companies here today, LLOG, 
bought out BP's interest in the block of the Outer Continental 
Shelf where Deepwater Horizon occurred, everything other than 
the actual wreckage, which still sits on the seafloor. Correct? 
Is this true?
    Mr. Slocum. I believe so, yes.
    Ms. Kamlager-Dove. OK, so who financially backs LLOG?
    Mr. Slocum. Well, actually, I just had a discussion with 
Mr. Zimmermann before this, and he explained to me, and Mr. 
Zimmermann could probably explain it better than I can, that it 
is a privately-held company, and they do partnerships with 
private equity on specific projects. In the past, that included 
Blackstone, ArcLight, and others, but that the company itself 
remains closely held by the family interests that founded it, 
and some of the specific investments are done in partnerships 
with certain private equity firms.
    Ms. Kamlager-Dove. And yet in 2019, they managed to sell 
off a controlling stake in these assets that they have for a 
cool $1.375 billion.
    I want to say that LLOG is involved in several other 
lawsuits, including being sued by several Louisiana parishes. 
Can you speak to some of these lawsuits?
    Mr. Slocum. Right. There are a number of local communities 
throughout Louisiana that have filed lawsuits against the 
offshore oil and gas industry for damages that the industry 
have done to the communities and to the ecosystems and to the 
very delicate ecosystems in these coastal communities that the 
oil and gas industry has not met their obligations.
    So, a number of these lawsuits by local communities, not by 
activists, outside environmental groups, these are by local 
governments that remain frustrated that the offshore oil 
industry is not reinvesting enough of their local profits into 
undoing some of the harm that has been done by digging these 
pipelines to supply the offshore oil industry.
    Ms. Kamlager-Dove. And yet, before the sale in 2017, at one 
of the wells nearest to BP's Macondo well, the well actually 
exploded, yes, and caused the Deepwater Horizon disaster?
    A corroded pipeline had spilled 672,000 gallons of oil. It 
leaked, or discharge happened over a period of 32 hours. And 
while LLOG managed not to admit any liability, they did settle, 
I guess, yes, this year with the Federal Government for $3.1 
million.
    Mr. Slocum. Yes, that is my understanding. It was, I 
believe, a corroded pipeline, undersea pipeline that ended up 
leaking 16,000 barrels of oil, which is a very significant 
amount. This happened in 2017, and they were forced to settle, 
I believe, for $3.1 million.
    Ms. Kamlager-Dove. Looking back over the last 14 years 
since Deepwater Horizon, can you tell us if you believe there 
is an increased culture of safety and accountability among 
offshore oil and gas companies?
    Mr. Slocum. We are not seeing a wholesale improvement in a 
culture of improved safety. I think, when you look at the fines 
as we have compiled, there continued to be a large number of 
non-compliance violations across a spectrum of safety issues in 
the U.S. offshore oil and gas industry, and that is very 
concerning to me.
    There is no such thing as a benign offshore oil or gas 
development. There are always risks. And when we are providing 
so many categorical exclusions for this development, when we do 
not have a regulator that is enforcing the rules as strongly as 
they should, I see a lot of liabilities, and especially, we 
have an industry that is not funding its decommissioning 
liabilities, again, as the GAO has pointed out.
    Ms. Kamlager-Dove. I am so concerned I am planning to send 
a letter to BOEM requesting that they finally end the practice 
of categorically excluding offshore rigs from environmental 
reviews.
    In the last few seconds that I have, BOEM recently adopted 
a new financial assurance rule to incentivize timely 
decommissioning. How can this rule help protect communities, 
the environment, and taxpayer dollars?
    Mr. Slocum. This final rule is a great step in the right 
direction. It is going to require certain offshore oil and gas 
firms to put up almost $7 billion in new bonds to ensure that 
they have committed secure capital to pay for their 
decommissioning costs.
    But as the GAO pointed out just a few months ago, there is 
$70 billion in overhanging liability for thousands of other 
wells across the Gulf of Mexico. So, the industry is not 
providing enough financial resources to clean up its own mess.
    Ms. Kamlager-Dove. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I yield back.
    Mr. Stauber [presiding]. Thank you, Representative 
Kamlager-Dove.
    Before I begin my questioning I am going to ask unanimous 
consent that this press release from the Department of the 
Interior dated November 9, 2023 announcing the $18.24 billion 
the Federal Government collected in revenues from energy 
production on Federal lands and waters in Fiscal Year 2023.
    Without objection, so ordered.

    [The information follows:]

                             PRESS RELEASE

Interior Department Announces $18.24 Billion in Fiscal Year 2023
Energy Revenue

Thursday, November 9, 2023

https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/interior-department-announces-1824-
billion-fiscal-year-2023-energy-revenue

                                 *****

WASHINGTON--Today, the Department of the Interior's Office of Natural 
Resources Revenue (ONRR) announced the disbursement of $18.24 billion 
in revenues generated in fiscal year 2023 from energy production on 
federal and Tribal lands and federal offshore areas. U.S. energy 
production under President Biden's leadership has reached an all-time 
high on both public and private lands throughout the nation.

The disbursements provide funds for states and Tribes to pursue a 
variety of conservation and natural resource goals, including 
irrigation and hydropower projects, historic preservation initiatives, 
conservation of public lands and waters, and investments in maintenance 
for critical facilities and infrastructure on our public lands.

The Department's renewable energy programs yielded nearly $600 million 
in revenue and is making significant progress toward the President's 
ambitious clean energy goals. President Biden's Investing in America 
agenda is growing the American economy from the middle out and bottom 
up--from rebuilding our nation's infrastructure, to driving over $600 
billion in private sector manufacturing and clean energy investments in 
the United States, to creating good paying jobs and building a clean 
energy economy that will combat the climate crisis and make our 
communities more resilient.

This year, $1.43 billion was distributed to Tribes and individual 
Indian mineral owners; $3.46 billion to the Reclamation Fund; $1 
billion to the Land and Water Conservation Fund; $150 million to the 
Historic Preservation Fund; $379 million to federal agencies; and $7.09 
billion to the U.S. Treasury.

ONRR disbursed $4.72 billion in fiscal year 2023 funds to 33 states. 
This revenue was collected from oil, gas, renewable energy, and mineral 
production on federal lands within the states' borders and offshore oil 
and gas tracts in federal waters adjacent to four Gulf of Mexico 
states' shores.

The states receiving the highest disbursements based on those 
activities are:


           New Mexico                $2.93 billion
           Wyoming                   $832.86 million
           Louisiana                 $177.25 million
           Colorado                  $153.24 million
           North Dakota              $132.66 million
           Utah                      $123.91 million
           Texas                     $108.27 million
           Mississippi                $52.58 million
           Alabama                    $52.49 million
           California                 $49.12 million
           Alaska                     $44.81 million
           Montana                    $36.18 million
 


The revenues disbursed to 33 federally recognized Tribes and 
approximately 31,000 individual Indian mineral owners represent 100 
percent of the revenues received for energy and mineral production 
activities on Indian lands. Tribes use these revenues to develop 
infrastructure, provide health care and education, and support other 
critical community development programs, such as senior centers, public 
safety projects, and youth initiatives.

Since 1982, the Department has disbursed more than $371.3 billion in 
mineral leasing revenues. ONRR makes most of these disbursements 
monthly from the royalties, rents, and bonuses it collects from energy 
and mineral companies operating on federal lands and waters.

A complete list of states receiving revenues and FY 2023 disbursement 
data is available on the Natural Resources Revenue Data portal.

                                 ______
                                 

    Mr. Stauber. Mr. Zimmermann, given the production 
efficiencies and low emission standards of oil extracted from 
the Gulf of Mexico, can you elaborate on how increased 
production could benefit downstream industries in non-offshore 
production states?
    Specifically, how might this lead to more accessible and 
cost-effective products for critical sectors like health care 
and manufacturing in my home state of Minnesota?
    Mr. Zimmermann. Thank you, Chairman Stauber. My grandfather 
is actually from Virginia, Minnesota. He worked in the Iron 
Range, and his family was in the railroad industry in all of 
northern Minnesota. Many of my days were spent in Lake 
Vermilion over the summer in northern Minnesota.
    Mr. Stauber. You are talking my language now, but keep 
going.
    Mr. Zimmermann. One of the things that I want to make sure 
that people understand about the industry is that our industry, 
even though in the Gulf of Mexico our operations happen along 
the Gulf Coast, our stretch goes well beyond into all parts of 
our country.
    We talked a little bit about our partnerships. We have 
multiple partnerships with many, many groups that come from 
many walks of life, many states. One of our major partners 
through the years, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe of Colorado, 
has been a deep water partner of ours in accessing deep water 
resources.
    Furthermore, the ability to bring products from many parts 
of the country. We access pipe and much of our tooling from the 
states of the Midwest, Ohio, which access their ores from the 
Iron Range in northern Minnesota. So, even though much of the 
activity happens on the Gulf Coast, the feeder system is broad, 
and is accessed through our entire country, and touches all 50 
states.
    Mr. Stauber. In your testimony, you mentioned advanced 
technologies that improve safety and reduce emissions in 
offshore oil production. Could you provide specific examples of 
these technologies, and discuss how they might be applied to 
future developments?
    Mr. Zimmermann. Yes, one of the major technologies that we 
have implemented is our subsea integrity management program, 
where we use the technologies of LiDAR and remote-operated 
vehicles to assess the health and welfare of the subsea 
infrastructure in looking for minor movements and looking for 
potential damage, to see if there are risks for future problems 
well in advance of the problems manifesting themselves.
    Mr. Stauber. Thank you.
    Ms. Martin from the great state of Alaska, welcome. And by 
the way, Alaska is the only state that has more mineral wealth 
than the great state of Minnesota. And I think you know that.
    What specific reforms or expansions in categorical 
exclusions could BOEM implement to streamline the permitting 
process, thus expediting the development of offshore resources 
while still ensuring environmental safeguards?
    Ms. Martin. Thank you, Chairman.
    Unambiguous, clear, concise regulations that support timely 
permitting is key to accelerate any sort of acquisition of 
geoscience data required for virtually any energy source. So, 
no matter your preference of energy source, as the United 
States and Congress considers its future energy policies, it 
requires eyes on something going in, out, or through the 
ground. And that vision is only provided by geoscience.
    So, we are certainly supportive of categorical exclusions 
for geoscience activities, regardless of their energy 
objective.
    Mr. Stauber. OK, so given the advanced technologies used in 
geoscience surveys, can you discuss how these technologies not 
only improve the efficiency of resource exploration, but also 
ensure the safety and environmental integrity of the 
operations?
    Ms. Martin. Yes, thank you for the question.
    Geoscience not only shows where resources may be, but also, 
importantly, where they are not. So, with increasing amounts of 
geoscience, we have been able to delineate not only increasing 
amounts of resources available to develop. And whether that 
includes imaging the subsurface for harnessing the wind or 
imaging the subsurface to determine where natural gas and 
petroleum is, we are able to delineate what are the most 
energy-dense, lowest-carbon-intensive sources on the planet. 
And because of that, developers like LLOG are able to pinpoint 
those before they even put a drill bit in the ground. They are 
able to have the confidence and the proof that these resources 
will provide energy density and low carbon intensity.
    Mr. Stauber. Thank you very much.
    Mr. McConn, you mentioned that OPEC has regained control of 
the oil market. Could you explain why this shift has occurred, 
and what impacts this might have on U.S. energy security and 
market stability?
    Mr. McConn. Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Yes, I do think there is a shift in global oil markets 
specifically. We do think OPEC has regained control. The main 
reason for that, just on fundamentals of supply and demand, on 
the demand side we do see demand growing through the end of the 
decade. I know there is a big debate and more uncertainty about 
demand forecasts. But it seems increasingly clear to us and 
industry participants that it will be very difficult for demand 
to peak and start declining before the end of this decade, just 
given the general correlations that we have had with 
demographic and GDP growth correlated with oil demand growth. 
And for those correlations to break seem unlikely to us.
    So, demand is growing still, as it always has, and on the 
supply side, while we do see growth in some Latin American 
countries, it is really offsetting global declines. And the 
U.S. onshore shale industry has provided much of the growth to 
meet demand growth in previous years, and that is the key thing 
that we believe is going to change. As the shale inventory is 
diminished, producers have consolidated much of that resource 
and they are incentivized to preserve inventory and not grow.
    Mr. Stauber. OK, real quick, what kind of effect is the 
Biden administration's unsupportive policies towards the 
domestic energy industry having on the investment community 
support for the offshore oil and gas industry?
    And is the industry seeing necessary capital going to other 
projects in other areas of the world instead of the United 
States?
    Mr. McConn. Yes. Generally speaking, investors do not like 
uncertainty. There is a high degree of uncertainty in oil and 
gas exploration already. Around 30 percent of exploration wells 
are successful, so that scares investors already. And then 
regulatory uncertainty. So, skipping lease sales, for instance, 
can inject more uncertainty that stifles investment in the U.S. 
offshore sector.
    To the question of is capital going elsewhere, yes. As far 
as growth capital in offshore regions outside of the United 
States, I mentioned Latin America where most of the growth is 
happening. So, that is one area. And really, one of the main 
capital shifts that I would like to detail is not just to other 
regions geographically, but the distinction between development 
capital and exploration capital. I mentioned we need more 
exploration capital if we want to ensure long-term supply and 
growth for energy security and other reasons, and it is the 
exploration aspect that has diminished recently.
    Mr. Stauber. Thank you very much. My time is up. I will now 
recognize Representative Graves from Louisiana for 5 minutes.
    Mr. Graves. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to again 
thank the witnesses for coming to testify today.
    [Chart.]
    Mr. Graves. You know, I am either lucky or good, I am not 
sure which one, but this is a post that we did in social media 
as well as in different letters dating back to early 2021, 
where we predicted things like energy prices going up, energy 
emissions going up, becoming more dependent upon foreign 
sources of energy, and all these things have come true. Again, 
I am not sure if it was lucky or good, but we nailed it. Let me 
say it again, this was January of 2021. And, yes, you can have 
this to put in your office.
    [Laughter.]
    Mr. Graves. And all this stuff was so predictable.
    Mr. Slocum, you seem like a bright guy. But look, let's be 
really honest. The things that you were saying, they just 
weren't realistic at all.
    No. 1, this Administration predicts that global energy 
demand is going to increase, all right? This Administration 
predicts it. And you are sitting here saying that, oh, well, 
all this energy is being exported. Your organization opposes 
pipelines. You have repeatedly come out and opposed pipelines 
to actually transport the energy to other places in the country 
that could use it. Maybe, for example, we could build a 
pipeline to California so they can stop consuming more oil from 
the Amazon rainforest than any other state in the country, in 
fact, the top consumer from the Amazon rainforest. It is 
completely unrealistic what you are saying.
    What you should actually be doing if you care about the 
environment, you should be asking that U.S. energy be exported. 
The areas where Mr. Zimmermann and some of the other folks 
produce actually has a 46 percent lower emissions profile than 
the international average. We have the lowest or the second-
lowest carbon intensity sources of energy of anywhere else in 
the world.
    So, look, we can sit here and spin all these false 
narratives that are going to result in further penalizing 
American families that can't afford energy, or we can actually 
follow the math and science and policies that actually support 
better environmental outcomes.
    So, let's look at some of the other outcomes as a result of 
what is going on.
    [Chart.]
    Mr. Graves. You may be familiar that Iran just lobbed 
hundreds of drones and rockets at Israel, hundreds of them. 
According to some estimates, they have profited to the tune of 
$65 billion, $65 billion additional profits over their baseline 
on what they were making before because of flawed U.S. energy 
policies.
    This is what happens when there are voids. Voids are going 
to be filled. Look at the spike in Iranian exports, dirtier 
oil, they are using it to kill American troops and attack our 
allies and interests around the globe. Whose hands have blood 
on them? You are trashing the environment and, literally, lives 
are being lost.
    I am just going to ask you. Go back and look at the math 
and science, and stop this proliferation of completely bogus 
information.
    Mr. Zimmermann, I want to ask you, how does it make you 
feel when you hear people like this saying things that are 
completely against U.S. interests, that are completely against 
better environmental outcomes? You live in these communities. 
Is it just your desire to go trash the environment where you 
and your family live?
    Mr. Zimmermann. We are proud to be in the oil industry, and 
we see ourselves as the tip of the spear in providing energy 
security for our country. We see ourselves as providing 
economic security for our state. We live and recreate where we 
work. I have never lived north of I-10, so the coast is very 
important to me, and the environmental coast and the economic 
coast is equally important.
    I am a geologist by background, so people who get into 
geology get into it because they love the outdoors, they love 
the environment, they love their planet. And I can tell you 
that that is consistent with all of the folks, proud folks, who 
work in the oil industry in the Gulf of Mexico.
    Mr. Graves. Mr. McConn, do you believe that we could 
produce more energy cleaner in the United States and improve 
the overall global emissions conditions?
    Mr. McConn. Yes, the data suggest that emissions intensity 
is lower domestically for production domestically than 
internationally. So, yes, the short answer is yes.
    Mr. Graves. Thanks. Mr. Chairman, I am out of time, but I 
want to ask unanimous consent to include in the record an E&E 
article that says, ``Californians already paying sky-high pump 
prices. It might get much worse.''
    And also an article from Bloomberg that says, ``China sets 
record Russian oil imports in March.''
    Dirtier oil profiting countries like Russia as a result of 
flawed policies.
    And finally, Mr. Chairman, an article, ``U.S. to reimpose 
oil sanctions on Venezuela over election concerns.''
    Mr. Stauber. Without objection, so ordered.
    Mr. Graves. Mr. Chairman, all of these things were entirely 
predictable. And it is remarkable to watch folks doubling and 
tripling down on policies that harm our environment, our 
economic conditions of families, and our energy and national 
security. I yield back.
    Mr. Stauber. Thank you very much.
    We are going to go to a second round of questions, and I am 
going to allow Representative Kamlager-Dove to start.

    Ms. Kamlager-Dove. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will say this 
Committee does love to pick on California, but that is OK. We 
have thick skin.

    Mr. Chair, in response to the item entered into the record 
by you, I would also like to enter into the record proposals to 
reduce fossil fuel subsidies by EESI. It says that by Fiscal 
Year 2022 subsidies exceeded revenue by $2.1 billion, which was 
a net loss for the government. It goes on to talk about other 
ways in which fossil fuel subsidies can be reduced.

    Mr. Stauber. Without objection, so ordered.

    [The information follows:]

   [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    

                                 __
                                 

    Ms. Kamlager-Dove. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
    So, while we consider our energy resources, we also have to 
consider the costs of developing those resources and who pays 
those costs. And when it comes to oil and gas development, Big 
Oil has gotten very good at passing the costs of their business 
onto the public. So, I would like to take a moment to go back 
to talking about BOEM, and to point out that when it is 
estimating whether an offshore oil and gas resource is 
economically recoverable, if it makes business sense for the 
industry to go after that oil, the agency factors in the costs 
of decommissioning the oil and gas infrastructure at the end of 
its life.
    Mr. Slocum, what risks does oil and gas infrastructure pose 
to coastal communities when it is not properly decommissioned?
    And why is it important to plug wells and clean up the 
infrastructure quickly?
    Mr. Slocum. Thank you very much for the question.
    As pointed out in the dozens of lawsuits by coastal 
parishes across Louisiana, laying all these pipelines through 
very sensitive wetlands and cheniers erodes those sensitive 
habitats and further exposes coastal communities to threats of 
rising sea levels. And it has devastating impacts on other 
industries in the region.
    I just recently came back from southwest Louisiana. I don't 
think it was Mr. Graves' district, but I was in Cameron, 
Louisiana, where I met with shrimp fishermen whose catches have 
been going down by 50 percent over the last few years as the 
proliferation of LNG export infrastructure competes with their 
fishing territories. So, there is harm, not just from an 
environmental justice standpoint, but from a livelihood and a 
cultural standpoint. And when I met with these Louisiana 
fishermen, it is a cultural industry, it is an industry that 
represents their culture, and it is quickly disappearing 
because of the encroachment by the oil and gas industry. And 
failing to require the industry to pay its necessary costs, I 
think, is a huge liability.
    And if I may, to quickly turn, I didn't have an opportunity 
to respond to Mr. Graves. I do agree with Mr. Graves that I am 
a very bright guy, so I appreciate that.
    [Laughter.]
    Mr. Slocum. But I recall President George W. Bush, in his 
2006 State of the Union address--this was the president that 
oversaw our response to the terrorist attacks on 9/11--and he 
said in his State of the Union that America's problem is that 
it is addicted to oil, and he got applause from every Democrat 
and every Republican in that room, because George Bush 
understood that what has worked for us in the past will not 
continue to work for us in the future. And producing our way 
out of our oil dependence is just not feasible or sustainable. 
And the technology of alternatives, especially off the coast of 
Louisiana, and the job opportunities are immeasurable. So, I 
just wanted to say that.
    Ms. Kamlager-Dove. Thank you. Earlier this year, at another 
hearing on offshore drilling, Ms. Trevino testified that her 
family lives, works, and goes to school in a sacrifice zone in 
Houston, Texas. And every day she is exposed to concentrated 
levels of pollutants. And then Ms. Robinson, another witness, 
told us that oil and gas continued to promote a better economy 
and well-paying jobs, yet Louisiana remains at the bottom for 
education, housing, and health care.
    So, Mr. Slocum, can you elaborate on how this singular 
focus is missing a massive piece of the impact of this 
development in terms of economies and otherwise, how we are 
continuing to be reliant on energy and not focusing on some of 
these other issues?
    Mr. Slocum. Right. I think one of the fundamental problems 
is that a lot of the players in the oil and gas industry, 
particularly the foreign-based companies, they are delivering 
the financial returns from their offshore oil and gas activity 
to their investors and shareholders, many of whom are far 
outside of the United States. So, we are not seeing enough 
direct reinvestment and assistance to the communities that are 
not directly employed or financial beneficiaries of the oil and 
gas industry.
    So, the benefits are not evenly distributed across many of 
these communities. And, again, that is what I saw firsthand 
just a few weeks ago in southwest Louisiana, is pretty 
significant disparities between which communities are being 
successful from oil and gas development and which aren't.
    Ms. Kamlager-Dove. Thank you.
    Mr. Chair, I yield back.
    Mr. Stauber. Thank you very much. Chairman Westerman, I 
know that you have just walked in, but if you are ready for 
your first 5 minutes of questioning, you are up, sir.
    Ms. Kamlager-Dove. Take a breath.
    Mr. Westerman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you to the 
witnesses. I appreciate you being here today.
    Mr. Zimmermann, in light of the suggested improvements for 
BOEM, including closer collaboration with the industry for 
comprehensive resource assessments, incentivizing exploratory 
drilling, and regularly updating reserve reports, could you 
elaborate on how these changes would enhance the United States' 
ability to effectively manage and utilize its offshore 
resources?
    Mr. Zimmermann. Thank you for the question, and we support 
the BOEM in their continued activity and assessments. We think 
that the technology that they use is good. We think that there 
is the opportunity to improve them through advances in seismic 
technologies.
    One of the great things about the Gulf of Mexico is, as a 
geologist, you learn that there are multiple levels and 
multiple places that we can continue to look. It is a salt 
basin that is difficult to image. So, advances in seismic 
technology and geologic theory have given us the opportunity to 
access different zones that we didn't think were accessible 
before and to understand the resources which can be accessed 
within those zones.
    Mr. Westerman. Yes, we know these modernizations are 
essential for improving transparency and credibility, but also 
for optimizing the economic, strategic benefits of our national 
offshore assets. Could you elaborate on that a little bit?
    Mr. Zimmermann. We have talked about the price of oil, and 
the price of oil is a global indicator. We also have tremendous 
amounts of royalties and taxes that we pay into the national 
economy. So, there is a direct payment to the national economy, 
and then there is the secondary economy, which is the folks who 
work and breathe and are in the industry on a day-to-day basis.
    And there is a lot of talk about production here, and I 
think it is important to remember that production is a trailing 
indicator of basin health. So, when Mr. McConn talks about 
exploration drilling, that is the leading indicator. What are 
lease sales looking like? What are exploration drills looking 
like? And when we see those declining in the ways that we are 
seeing in the Gulf of Mexico, it should give us pause as to 
what the overall production potential of the Gulf of Mexico is 
in the next few years.
    Mr. Westerman. So, what is the lag time from when seismic 
is done until we see production?
    Mr. Zimmermann. From seismic to production can last as long 
as 20 years. So, it is a long process, it is an expensive 
process. But from when we shoot the seismic, the seismic needs 
to be shot, processed, studied, and then the leases need to be 
acquired, leases need to be studied, leases need to be drilled, 
and then the developments go forward.
    So, the shortest time frame may be in the 10 to 12, but I 
would say the median of seismic shoot to production is probably 
in that 12- to 15-year range.
    Mr. Westerman. So, anybody who is trying to squelch seismic 
work right now will probably be much later in their career or 
even out of office before any of the negative benefits of that. 
I won't say any of the negative benefits, but the real negative 
benefits are felt.
    And we hear this narrative today that America is producing 
more oil than ever, and you have also mentioned something else 
about the global markets for oil. And I hate to ask you to 
state the obvious, but do oil companies set the price of oil?
    Mr. Zimmermann. No, we categorically do not. We participate 
in a global economy for oil and gas.
    Mr. Westerman. And you may or may not know this, but what 
was the most profitable oil company in the world last year?
    Mr. Zimmermann. I have a guess, but I would hesitate to 
speculate.
    Mr. Westerman. It is Aramco. It wasn't a U.S. oil company. 
It was actually an oil company that operates in an area where 
they do, through their cartels, set oil prices.
    So, our decisions here in the United States do affect the 
global markets, and we have to have a long vision and foresight 
to do the right things today so that down the road we are not 
paying an even steeper price.
    Mr. Chairman, I yield back.

    Mr. Stauber. Thank you very much.

    Before we go to Representative Duarte, I will ask unanimous 
consent to enter into the record a June 10, 2023 article, 
``China Drills in Deeper Waters to Cut Reliance on Foreign 
Oil.''

    Without objection, so ordered.

    [The information follows:]
China Drills in Deeper Waters to Cut Reliance on Foreign Oil

     State-owned giant Cnooc spearheading offshore drilling 
            efforts

     Wells at sea account for 60% of country's new oil 
            production


Bloomberg News, June 10, 2023, With assistance by Kathy Chen and Dan 
Murtaugh

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-10/china-s-offshore-
oil-drilling-expands-for-energy-security

                                 *****

[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

A concrete expanse the size of Monaco jutting off China's southern 
coastline is the imposing centerpiece in Beijing's efforts to slow its 
growing dependence on imported oil.

More than 15,000 workers can be on site at one time at the facility at 
Zhuhai, near the gambling mecca of Macau. Run by a unit of China 
National Offshore Oil Corp., it's been churning out production 
platforms to be deployed in China's offshore oil fields.

The deepwater drilling push comes as China's aging onshore wells and 
insatiable appetite for energy force it to become ever-more reliant on 
foreign crude. The world's biggest oil importer gets more than 70% of 
its supply from overseas, compared with less than 10% at the turn of 
the millennium.

With its sprawling industrial base and deepwater ambitions, Cnooc, one 
of China's three main state-owned oil firms, is on a spending spree to 
develop the drilling technology currently dominated by western oil 
majors. But pushing into waters contested by China's neighbors has also 
put it in conflict with the US government.

Washington blacklisted Cnooc in 2021, saying that it acted in concert 
with China's military to ``bully'' neighboring countries over its 
disputed claims over large parts of the South China Sea. The company 
has denied the allegations.

The Chinese oil major has developed the Bohai Sea between northern 
China and the Korean peninsula into the country's largest oil field and 
is expanding the Liuhua and other fields in the eastern South China 
Sea. Wells at sea accounted for 60% of China's new oil production last 
year.

``With significant untapped volumes offshore China, domestic offshore 
barrels are expected to become an indispensable growth engine for the 
coming decade,'' said Baihui Yu, senior research analyst at S&P Global 
Commodity Insights. ``Technology progress and increased access have 
enabled more drilling to be focused into deeper waters.''
China's Offshore Oil Push

China isn't the first country to have to go to sea to replace dwindling 
onshore reserves. US drillers opened up the Gulf of Mexico in the 
1960s, and European firms turned the North Sea into a major production 
hub in the 1970s and 1980s.

Cnooc is China's exclusive offshore oil producer and its domestic 
production grew to account for 23% of the country's total in 2021, 
compared with 15% in 2013, according to company filings and BP Plc 
data. The explorer is investing heavily to raise output by 4% to 6% 
this year and then by a further 12% by 2025.

As well as geopolitical hurdles, the technical challenges of deep-water 
drilling are also immense. On a recent weekday afternoon at the site in 
Zhuhai, one of the world's largest such facilities, sparks flew into 
the air as a small group of workers put the finishing touches on what 
looked like the Eiffel Tower laying on its side.

The steel structure, called a jacket, will be dragged onto a boat and 
taken 200 kilometers offshore, where its 338.5-meter-length will let it 
stretch from the seafloor to above the ocean's surface. The jackets, 
which need to be strong enough to withstand massive waves and typhoons, 
are too large to be moved by crane so they are constructed horizontally 
and rolled sideways onto a ship.
China Oil Import Dependency Rises

Oil majors like Chevron Corp. and Shell Plc are still the most advanced 
players in the sector, with the technological capability to drill in 
harsher and deeper offshore environments. But Cnooc is catching up.
A year ago it built the largest jacket in Asian history for its Haiji-1 
field, and it's increasing exploration in deeper waters further from 
China's coast. Cnooc expects to produce between 650 million to 660 
million barrels of oil equivalent this year and is also participating 
in projects globally, including Exxon Mobil Corp.'s mammoth find off 
the coast of Guyana.

At another construction site in Qingdao, it's experimenting with even 
more advanced technology, building a new cylindrical-shaped vessel 
designed to float near the jacket and oil platform, processing and 
storing the oil on board before offloading it onto tankers.

Technical progress like this has made some previously uneconomic 
offshore fields now viable for development, according to the company.

                                 ______
                                 

    Mr. Stauber. Representative Duarte, you are up for 5 
minutes.
    Mr. Duarte. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate it. Thank 
you to the witnesses today.
    Ms. Martin, you talk in your witness testimony about clean 
cooking oils, access to clean heat and clean cooking oils. 
Explain to me some of the personal health risks of alternatives 
to natural gas in the home.
    Ms. Martin. Yes, thank you, Congressman Duarte. We have 
seen different debates here in the Western world about using 
natural gas in your home. The reality is 30 percent of the 
world does not have access to clean cooking, and that includes 
natural gas. Instead, they are cooking over kerosene, coal, or 
animal dung. And the World Health Organization estimates that 
directly contributes to over 3 million deaths prematurely per 
year. To put that in perspective, we shut down the whole world 
for a global pandemic for that number, and this happens 
reoccurring. Those deaths could be tremendously eliminated by 
increasing access----
    Mr. Duarte. The poorest folks in the world are lacking 
natural gas?
    Ms. Martin. Yes.
    Mr. Duarte. So, are the richest folks in the world using 
solar ovens or wind power?
    Ms. Martin. No, sir. The world heavily relies still on both 
petroleum and natural gas, and natural gas dynamic benefits 
from fertilization to powering homes, industrialization, and 
even the importance of ensuring climate resilience will remain 
for many decades to come.
    Mr. Duarte. Great. And Mr. Zimmermann, you speak to the 
economic benefits broadly of the petroleum industry, of 
petroleum products. I asked in a hearing in Agriculture a few 
weeks ago if one of the witnesses would, in good faith, 
recommend that a business build a new fertilizer-based chemical 
manufacturer here in America today, given our policies towards 
fossil fuels and industry in general.
    Do petroleum products lift humanity in a broad sense?
    Mr. Zimmermann. Petroleum products help everything that we 
do, from the medical community to technology to every part of 
life. And the access to those resources and the access to those 
resources in a consistent manner and in a reasonably-priced 
manner all help humanity.
    And as we discussed, the increase of prices does have a 
tremendous impact on the lower rungs of the socioeconomic. One 
of the things that we are proud of in our industry, as well as 
helping to provide the energy to the future, is the range of 
people who work in our industry. We have the broadest range of 
people, from folks who have little traditional education all 
the way up to PhDs. And there is a place for those people to 
work in our business and a place for them to make a good 
living.
    Mr. Duarte. Thank you. Yes, I live in a rural part of 
California, 18th highest poverty level in the country, where 
they have taken the water off the farms and my families simply 
can't afford it.
    And I have personal friends from our public schools my kids 
went to years ago that went off the oil fields because they 
felt they could better their lives by moving to the oil fields. 
But it is not just the oil fields themselves. We are talking 
all the derivative products from the oil fields that get 
offshored.
    Mr. Slocum, you are a self-attested bright guy, right?
    Mr. Slocum. Yes, sir.
    Mr. Duarte. OK, got that on record. So, we are going to 
stop drilling oil. We don't like the way it deals with the 
shrimp fishermen. It goes through some lowland somewhere.
    Now, we have had testimony from the Administration that the 
Administration is against all pipelines, period. I live in 
California. We would love to bring oil from the eastern oil 
fields in Texas and New Mexico, the Permian out to California 
through a lot of desert. No shrimp fishermen to worry about. 
And it is not happening because this Administration doesn't 
want pipelines.
    So, we are shutting down oil leases, we are shutting down 
oil transport. We are shutting down the oil economy which 
includes many derivatives, many industries that many families 
can better themselves on. I don't think those burning animal 
dung today think they are quite finished with their climb up 
the economic ladder. Are you going to subject these folks to 
living the life they have today? Or what is your solution 
outside of petroleum to realistically lift billions to a 
standard of living where they have healthy, prosperous, and 
opportunity-rich lives?
    Mr. Slocum. Great question.
    First, U.S. LNG exports cannot go to poor countries because 
they cannot afford LNG. Bangladesh was priced out of the global 
LNG market last year.
    Mr. Duarte. So, we are going to make it scarce.
    Mr. Slocum. And also, poor countries do not have the 
domestic natural gas pipeline infrastructure to move LNG 
exports from the coast into the interior. So, it is not a 
realistic solution----
    Mr. Duarte. Nor do they have chains for agricultural and 
food products. Do we not expect them to eat cheese, or fruit, 
or produce because they don't currently have the 
infrastructure? We are just going to shut them out permanently?
    Mr. Slocum. There are lots of solutions to clean up home 
cooking that does not involve U.S. LNG, which cannot solve 
those problems.
    Mr. Duarte. I am sorry, I will have to yield back, but your 
policies sound insensitive and mean to the most vulnerable 
people on earth, and I really detest that.
    Mr. Slocum. That is a complete mischaracterization of what 
I just said. I am not being insensitive, and also----
    Mr. Duarte. You are denying reality.
    Mr. Slocum. I politely disagree on a contention that the 
Biden administration is opposing all pipelines.
    The Biden administration literally just recently approved 
one of the largest oil export terminals for the Gulf Coast. The 
Biden administration went out of its way to appoint Willie 
Phillips as permanent Chair of FERC, who has taken a much more 
permissive view of permitting natural gas infrastructure. And, 
in fact, FERC Chairman Phillips proudly talks about how----
    Mr. Duarte. Energy infrastructure is an issue of 
promiscuity. I mean, you have to be permissive to allow the 
carbon economy to grow and lift more billions of lives out of 
poverty.
    Mr. Slocum. Well, first, natural gas infrastructure must be 
found to be in the public interest. And that public interest 
determination must balance an array of different things like 
the impact that burning fossil fuels has on destabilizing 
climate change, the impact that it has on exacerbating health 
and safety of local communities.
    Mr. Duarte. So, if you aren't already up the economic 
ladder, the Earth can't afford you to better your life. Is that 
what I am hearing?
    Mr. Slocum. That is absolutely not what I am hearing.
    Mr. Duarte. Can the public around the world that can't 
afford fossil fuels and natural gas afford nuclear? Can they 
afford windmills and solar panels?
    Mr. Slocum. In the global South, absolutely. Decentralized 
solar systems are already generating clean and zero-emission 
power.
    Mr. Stauber. The Chair is going to intervene now.
    Mr. Slocum. Yes, please.
    Mr. Duarte. Thank you, Chair, I yield back.
    And thank you to our witness.
    Mr. Stauber. The Chair now recognizes Representative 
Graves.
    Mr. Graves. Mr. Slocum, I appreciate your answers, and I am 
glad that you went down to Cameron Parish. It is outside of our 
district, but it is clear to me that one trip down to Cameron 
Parish doesn't make you any brighter on seafood issues than it 
does on energy issues. So, let's go through a few things.
    We represent the shrimping community. As a matter of fact, 
Louisiana is the top shrimp producer in the United States, by 
far. I sent a text to the guy who owns the largest--we call it 
shrimp shed, and it is the place that buys the shrimp from the 
boats--the largest one in the United States. And I said, ``We 
have a witness testifying in our Committee right now saying 
that shrimp catch is down because of offshore energy 
production.'' That is all I said. I knew exactly what his 
answer was going to be, because I actually do this for a 
living, and have for an extended period of time.
    His first text back was--and I will just use the 
abbreviation, because I would hate to say this word--but 
``BS.'' He then came back and said, ``That is stupid.'' And Mr. 
Slocum, it is.
    You made a comment earlier saying that pipelines result in 
sea rise. You have no idea what you are talking about. I am 
sorry, but you don't. And for you to sit here in front of this 
Committee and be saying these things--the cause of land loss 
and resiliency problems in Louisiana are because we put levees 
on the river system. We put levees on the river system. We lost 
over 2,000 square miles of our coast. That is the primary cause 
of land loss. Our state used to grow three-quarters of a square 
mile a year.
    I mean, just sitting here and continuing to say things--
there is a Louisiana Shrimp Alliance. We have been working with 
them for years. Do you know what the problem with shrimp is 
right now? It is because our own government is funding foreign 
aquaculture shrimp operations that then are turning around and 
sending the shrimp back to us and undercutting prices because 
we are subsidizing it and their governments are subsidizing it. 
By the way, it is also filled with illegal chemicals.
    We have legislation to try to stop that. If you want to 
join us in that, I would love your support if you truly have a 
heart for the shrimpers in Louisiana. But the things you keep 
saying here are just completely false. And it is things like 
this, it is false narratives like this that actually result in 
awful policy.
    I said earlier, this Administration's own EIA predicts that 
there is going to be an increase in global energy demand, which 
includes an increase in oil demand and an increase in gas 
demand. By the way, the largest increase in energy sources in 
Bangladesh--in fact, not even close--is gas. I am not an expert 
on what the LNG issue is, but they have apparently figured it 
out. And the largest, multiple times larger than any other 
source, is increased utilization of gas, OK?
    [Chart.]
    Mr. Graves. So, this is energy production. I said it twice, 
I am going to say it a third time: There is an increase 
projected to be a global increase in oil and gas demand. We 
produce it cleaner than just about anywhere else. This is 
energy acreage that has been leased under the Biden 
administration compared to other administrations. And the only 
reason this one was done was not because he wanted it done, it 
is because the IRA that Ms. Kamlager-Dove enthusiastically 
supported required that he did it, because he didn't want to. 
All right?
    I mean, this is amazing. New energy leases under this 
Administration, it is incredible. It is disgusting, what they 
are doing. Jimmy Carter, over 100 times more energy production 
than under this Administration.
    Ms. Martin, I have talked about my frustration, but could 
you talk a little bit about the bureaucracy under this 
Administration in terms of regulatory, even things like getting 
permission for seismic, and how that prevents us from being 
able to produce more clean energy in the United States?
    Ms. Martin. Congressman Graves, thank you for the question.
    One of the things I love about representing the geoscience 
industry is that it is really non-partisan. While geoscience is 
best known for its tremendous improvement in step changes in 
technology that have improved the discovery of resources like 
beneath salt layers in the Gulf of Mexico like Mr. Zimmermann 
referred to, we also support virtually any energy source 
required or preferred in the energy evolution. So, the 
permitting of these activities are absolutely key for any 
energy policy.
    Currently, the bureaucracies that exist particularly in the 
permitting and authorizations of Marine Mammal Protection Act 
authorizations have upheld, have stalled, delayed--
unnecessarily so--the permitting of geoscience activities time 
and time again, whether that is Alaska, Gulf of Mexico, 
Atlantic, which, as you well know, was a failed attempt by a 
company, my own members, to update the resource estimates after 
over 40 years.
    Mr. Graves. Ms. Martin, do you believe that these efforts 
and this bureaucracy is helping to improve the global 
environment?
    Ms. Martin. No, I do not. Of course, any time we are able 
to provide updated delineation of the subsurface, the resources 
that our citizens can access and benefit from right underneath 
our feet and off our shores, is a benefit for not only energy 
access and accessibility, but also for the environment.
    Mr. Graves. Thank you.
    Mr. Chairman, I just want to make note. As the United 
States has led the world in reducing emissions, for every 1 ton 
we have reduced China has increased by 5, to where today China 
is releasing more emissions than the entire developed world 
combined.
    Mr. Slocum, your focus is absolutely on the wrong country.
    I yield back.
    Mr. Slocum. May I respond to Mr. Graves?
    Mr. Stauber. No, sir.
    I thank the witnesses for their valuable testimony and the 
Members for their questions. It was a good debate this morning.
    The members of the Subcommittee may have some additional 
questions for the witnesses, and we will ask you to respond to 
these in writing. Under Committee Rule 3, members of the 
Committee must submit questions to the Committee Clerk by 5 
p.m. on Tuesday, April 23. The hearing record will be held open 
for 10 business days for these responses.
    If there is no further business, without objection, the 
Committee stands adjourned.

    [Whereupon, at 10:46 a.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]

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