Liberal group to Obama: Delay offshore drilling sale

A liberal think tank is pushing the Obama administration to delay its next offshore drilling auction until Congress renews a key conservation law.

The Center for American Progress wants President Obama’s Interior Department to use offshore drilling as leverage to push Congress to renew the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).

{mosads}The group argued Wednesday that since the LWCF gets its funding from a portion of offshore drilling revenue, it is logical to link the fortunes of the two programs together.

“The Obama administration can save America’s best parks program, but it will need to engage in a bold fight for the basic idea that underpins the LWCF: Investment in conservation should be a condition for offshore drilling,” Matt Lee-Ashley, director of public lands for the liberal group, wrote Wednesday.

The group hopes that anger over an offshore drilling delay would lead Congress to act to renew the LWCF.

The fund, which pays for the acquisition and upkeep of conservation and recreation facilities on the national, state and local levels, will end Sept. 30 if Congress does not act to renew it.

But while it has bipartisan support, the leading lawmakers responsible for it — Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) — have discussed major changes to the program, like directing funds more toward park upkeep or using them to train energy workers.

Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is planning an Aug. 19 auction to sell oil and natural gas drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico to companies.

“A delay will invariably spark howls of protest from oil companies accustomed to having an annual opportunity to buy drilling rights nearly anywhere in the Gulf of Mexico,” Lee-Ashley wrote.

“Ultimately, however, permission to drill in publicly owned waters is a privilege — not a right — that is conditional upon the fulfillment of obligations to U.S. taxpayers and communities in all 50 states.”