Is Secretary Salazar Withholding Evidence That Americans Want to Drill
Offshore by a 2:1 Margin?
WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- American Solutions filed today
a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Minerals Management
Service (MMS) of the Department of the Interior (DOI), requesting documents
pertaining to the tabulated results of the recent public comment period for
DOI's five-year energy plan for offshore oil and gas drilling.
American Solutions sources have indicated that MMS staff has confirmed that
the comments have been tabulated internally and those comments in support of
offshore drilling outnumber anti-drilling comments by a 2-1 margin. As of
this writing, there has not been a public announcement of these final results.
American Solutions alone delivered 90,358 pro-drilling comments, one of the
largest sums for a single organization.
In May, during a discussion about offshore exploration in San Francisco,
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said that President Obama directed him to "to
make sure that we have an open and transparent government" and that "these are
not decisions that are going to be made behind closed doors." Salazar went on
to say that the DOI was "maximizing the opportunity for the public to give us
guidance on what it is that they want to do."
"It's time for Secretary Salazar to live up to President Obama's promise of
openness and transparency and release the final number of comments, pro and
con," said Vince Haley, Vice President for Policy at American Solutions. "The
American people deserve to know whether an overwhelming majority of Americans
support more drilling for American energy offshore. If the Secretary is
stalling on releasing these tabulations, it begs the question: What does he
have to hide?"
The FOIA request asks for eight specific items, including the public comment
totals, the proposed method of disclosing the comment totals, correspondence
between senior MMS and Interior Department officials, and any documents
related to the environmental and legal impacts of the proposed five-year
energy plan.
"It defies commonsense that the Senate is starting hearings this week on the
Boxer-Kerry cap and trade energy tax bill that will kill jobs, while at the
same time Secretary Salazar is failing to disclose what is likely to be
overwhelming American support for the creation of hundreds of thousands of
jobs through greater offshore development," Haley said.
A full copy of the FOIA request can be downloaded by clicking here.
SOURCE American Solutions for Winning the Future
Dan Kotman of American Solutions for Winning the Future, +1-202-355-9479,
dkotman@americansolutions.com
