Administration actions designed to increase the cost and reliability of energy

2009

February 4^th -- Withdrew areas offered for 77 oil and gas leases in Utah that could cost American taxpayers millions in lost lease bids, production royalties, new jobs and the energy needed to offset rising imports of oil and gas. February 10^th -- Delayed for six months the development of the new 5-year leasing program for offshore drilling that would have created new jobs, produced more American-made energy, and made us less dependent on foreign oil.

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February 25^th -- Delayed the new round of oil shale research, demonstration, and development (RD&D) leases that would help advance American technology and create high-tech jobs in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah. February 26^th -- Introduced a budget that contains page after page of taxes on oil and gas totaling more than $31 billion and included a cap-and-trade national energy tax that could cost the average American family over $3,100 a year. March 30^th -- Signed the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act into law. This $10 billion, 1200-page bill prohibited energy production on over 3 million acres of federal land, costing American jobs. April 17^th -- Listed carbon dioxide as a hazardous pollutant, opening the door for the regulation of all CO2 emissions under the Clean Air Act. April 27^th -- The Environmental Protection Agency ordered the cancellation of a permit for a Navajo Nation power plant that Navajo leadership called the most important development project the tribe has ever undertaken. This decision prevents the Navajo nation from creating new jobs and reducing its 42 percent unemployment rate. June 29^th -- The Interior Department established new solar reserve areas under the premise of prioritizing solar development, but the actual result was the closing of all but two percent of federal lands from renewable energy development. This was done without public comment. The Department left open only 670,000 acres of the nearly 30 million acres of land with solar potential. July 20^th -- Blocked new uranium mining for two years on one million acres of land in Arizona. August 24^th -- Withdrew 23,757 acres of oil and gas leases in the Bridger Teton National Forest in Wyoming. September 17^th -- Secretary Salazar stated that the Administration may not complete a new Outer Continental Shelf lease plan until 2012. October 8^th -- Issued a final report on the Utah oil and gas leases, offering only 17 of the 77 leases. In November, the Institute for Energy Research found that the Administration has leased less acreage than any other on record. October 20^th -- Announced a new round of oil shale RD&D Leases which include job killing variable terms, royalty rates, and lease sizes.

2010

January 6^th -- Implemented numerous new hurdles to the leasing and development of new oil and natural gas on onshore federal lands. January 26^th -- MMS announced it will delay the Virginia offshore lease sale scheduled for November 2011. January 28^th -- Announced the results of the most recent round of oil shale RD&D leases, which resulted in an 85% reduction in industry interest under the terms proposed by the Department. February 1^st -- Released the FY 2011 budget proposal that includes nearly $40 billion in direct tax and fee increases on the American oil, natural gas and coal industries. The budget also shows declining revenue for new offshore leases, proving that the Administration has no intention of opening up new areas for offshore drilling. February 17^th -- Department of Energy notified Congress that it would reprogram $115 million Congress appropriated to continue the Yucca Mountain licensing process, and instead use it to terminate the only national repository for spent nuclear fuel under current law. March 3^rd -- Department of Energy filed a motion to permanently abandon Yucca Mountain--the nation's repository for high-level spent nuclear fuel under current law--jeopardizing the future of nuclear energy. March 12^th -- Withdrew 61 oil and gas leases in Montana as part of a settlement over climate change. March 18^th -- Withdrew 4,400 acres in Monongahela National Forest from an oil and gas lease sale. March 31^st -- Ignoring statutory law, the Bureau Of Land Management agreed to settle a lawsuit out of court regarding the use of an "extraordinary circumstances" provision when using "categorical exclusions" for new oil and gas leases as defined by Section 390 in the Energy Policy Act (EPAct) of 2005. March 31^st -- Announced a new OCS plan that closes the vast majority of the OCS from future energy production. May 6^th -- Issued a moratorium on all new drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, creating further economic devastation and costing thousands of jobs. May 17^th -- Bureau of Land Management finalized rules, first announced by Secretary Salazar on January 6, 2010, to establish more government hurdles to onshore oil and natural gas production on federal lands. May 28^th -- Lifted the moratorium on shallow water drilling--yet still keeps a de facto moratorium in place by approving only a handful of permits. June 15^th -- In an Oval Office address on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, President Obama continued to push for implementation of a job-killing cap-and-trade national energy tax. July 12^th -- Issued a new moratorium on deepwater drilling after the first moratorium was struck down in federal court. July 19^th -- President's Ocean Policy Taskforce issued final recommendations on implementing a Federally-controlled system of ocean zoning that could lock up huge areas of the ocean to energy development. October 12^th -- Lifted the deepwater drilling moratorium--yet still keeps a de facto moratorium in place by refusing to issue permits. November 18^th -- An Interior Department presentation showed that they plan to postpone new lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico until 2012. November 31^st -- Interior Department announced it would consider proposals to regulate hydraulic fracturing on public lands--a technique currently regulated by states that is responsible for tremendous growth in natural gas production. December 1^st -- Effectively reinstated the moratorium on offshore drilling, placing the entire Pacific, the entire Atlantic, the Eastern Gulf and parts of Alaska off limits to future energy production. December 23^rd -- Interior Department announced a new "Wild Lands" Secretarial Order that could place hundreds of millions of acres of public lands off-limits to American energy production.

2011

January 14^th -- Revoked an already issued permit for a West Virginia coal mine, costing 250 American jobs. February 2^nd -- Continued to impose a de facto moratorium on drilling, Federal Judge finds the Interior Department in contempt of court. February 14^th -- Released the FY 2012 budget proposal that includes over $60 billion in direct tax and fee increases on American energy production. February 15^th -- Announced further delays to U.S. oil shale production by deciding to re-review the current rules for commercial oil shale leasing. February 28^th -- Issued a token deepwater permit, over four months after the moratorium was officially lifted. Did not say when future permits would be issued, thereby continuing the de facto moratorium and leaving thousands of Americans out of work. March 4^th -- Filed an appeal to a Federal Court ruling that ordered the Administration to act on stalled deepwater permits.