Revealed: How Big Oil Got Expedited Permitting for Fracking on Public Lands Into the Defense Bill

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The U.S. Senate has voted 89-11 to approve theย Defense Authorization Act of 2015, following the December 4ย U.S. House of Representatives’ 300-119 up-voteย andย now awaits President Barack Obama’sย signature.

The 1,616-page piece of pork barrel legislation contains a provision โ€” among other controversial measuresย โ€” to streamline permitting for hydraulic fracturing (โ€œfrackingโ€) on U.S. public lands overseen by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), a unit of the U.S. Department ofย Interior.

Buried on page 1,156 of the bill as Section 3021 and subtitled โ€œBureau of Land Management Permit Processing,โ€ the bill’s passage has won praise from both the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA)ย and comes on the heels of countries from around the world coming to a preliminary deal at the United Nations climate summit in Lima, Peru, to cap greenhouse gas emissions.

โ€œWe applaud the Senateโ€ฆand are hopeful the president signs this measure in a timely fashion,โ€ saidย Dan Naatz,ย IPAA lobbyist and former congressional staffer, in a press release.ย 

Alluding to the bottoming out of the global price of oil, Naatz further stated,ย โ€œIn these uncertain times of price volatility, itโ€™s encouraging for Americaโ€™s job creators to have regulatory certainty through a streamlined permittingย process.โ€

Streamlined permitting means faster turn-around times for the industry’s application process to drill on public lands, bringing with it all of the air, groundwater and climate change issues that encompass the shale productionย process.ย 

At the bottom of the same press release, IPAA boasted of its ability to get the legislative proposal introduced initiallyย by U.S. Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM)ย asย theย BLM Permit Processing Improvement Act of 2014ย after holding an โ€œeducational meetingโ€ with Udall’s staffers. Endorsed by some major U.S. environmental groups, Udall took more than $191,000 from the oil and gas industry during his successful 2014 re-electionย campaign.

IPAA‘s publicly admitted influence-peddling efforts are but the tip of the iceberg for how Big Oil managed to stuff expedited permitting for fracking on U.S. public lands into the National Defense Authorization Act ofย 2015.

IPAA, API Lobbyingย Blitz

According to Open Secrets, IPAA, API, ExxonMobil,ย America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA), ConocoPhillipsย and private equity firmย KKRย โ€” employer of former head of the CIA David Petraeusย โ€”ย all deployed lobbyists to ensure passage of theย BLM Permit Processing Improvement Act, nowย Section 3021 in the NDAA ofย 2015.

In quarter two and three, KKR deployed Akin Gump’s Ryan Thompson, chief-of-staff forย climate change denierย U.S. Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK)ย between 2002-2010, to lobby for the bill. A self-describedย โ€mini oil and gas company,โ€ the New York City-headquartered KKR owns numerous oil and gas assets in North Dakota’s Bakken Shale basin.

Warren Buffett‘s Berkshire Hathaway Energy, formerly known asย MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company and owned by his holding company Berkshire Hathaway, also lobbied for the bill. Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF), owned by Berkshire Hathaway, is a major carrier of Bakken crude-by-rail.

Pilot Project Liftsย Offย 

One of the original Senate-side co-sponsors of the BLM Permit Processing Improvement Act was U.S. Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND), who has also also served as a ringleader of other efforts to expedite permitting for fracking on public lands. First elected to the Senate in 2010, before which he was the Governor of North Dakota, the oil and gas industry has given Hoeven close to $325,000 in contributions since his preliminary Senateย run.

In 2013, a bill he sponsoredย โ€” the BLM Streamlining Actย โ€” passed by Congress with only one dissenting vote between both chambers combined. It was signed into law by President Obama on the day after Christmas.

That Streamlining Act created a pilot project for expedited permitting of fracking on public lands in the Bakken Shale. It was lobbied for by ExxonMobil, KKR, Marathon Oil, Chesapeake Energy and IPAA, amongย others.ย 

By comparison, theย BLM Permit Processing Improvement Act of 2014 and now its equivalentย Section 3021 in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2015, expedites permitting of fracking onย allย publicย lands.

NDAA 2015 Fracking Public Lands

Image Credit: U.S. Government Printingย Office

Hoeven had previously attempted to pass a bill to streamline fracking permitting on BLM public lands and โ€œrecognize the primacy of States,โ€ calling it theย Empower States Act of 2013.ย That bill was lobbied for by both ExxonMobil and API.

White House Help: Heatherย Zichal

The Obama White House has also long shown interest in the expedited permitting approach for fracking, portending a likely looming sign-off on theย bill.

Beyond signing the BLM Streamlining Act into law on December 26, 2013, President Obama also authorized Executive Orders in March 2012 and May 2013 calling on streamlined permitting of all energy infrastructureย projects.

During her time as Obama White House top energy and climate aide, Heather Zichalย โ€” now on the Board of Directors for fracked gas exporting company Cheniereย โ€”ย oversaw the signing of anย April 2012 Executive Order mandating creation of an interagency working group toย streamline regulatory oversight for fracking in the U.S.ย 

Heahter Zichal; Photo Credit:ย Wikimediaย Commons

Zichal also laid the groundwork for lack of transparency on injection of fracking chemicals into the ground on U.S. public lands, bringing theย American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) approach for chemical transparency to the BLM. Before inserting the provision into the BLM draft rules currently being finalized, Zichal โ€œhuddledโ€ with the industry numerousย times.

โ€œZichal met more than 20 times in 2012 with industry groups and company executives lobbying on the proposed rule,โ€ reported EnergyWire. โ€œAmong them were the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), along with BP America Inc., Devon Energy Corp. and Exxon Mobilย Corp.โ€ย 

Protect Our Public Landsย Act

Despite obvious extreme odds stacked against them, two members of the U.S. House Progressive Caucusย โ€” with the support of Food and Water Watch and several other progressive groupsย โ€” have introduced a bill to ban fracking on U.S. publicย lands.

Sponsored by U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) and U.S. Rep. Janย Schakowsky (D-IL), the two-pageย Protect Our Public Lands Actย โ€prohibit[s] the lessee from conducting any activity under the lease for the purpose of hydraulic fracturing.โ€ย 

U.S. Rep. Janย Schakowsky; Photo Credit: Wikimediaย Commons

โ€œWe owe it to our children and grandchildren, and their children and grandchildren, to ensure the protection of public lands,โ€ saidย Schakowskyย of her support for the legislation. โ€œThis billย โ€”ย in banning fracking on those landsย โ€”ย helps us follow through on that importantย promise.โ€

But only one thing can really receive a promise in this case: public interest groups are in a David vs. Goliath fight. And Goliath, clearly, is well-organized and well-mobilized on the issue as 2014 comes to aย close.

Update:ย On Dec. 19, in the form of a lateย Friday night โ€œnews dump,โ€ย Presidentย Obama signed the NDAA of 2015 into law. Obama did not mentionย Section 3021 in his press statement, instead focusing on how the bill will โ€œcounter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and [help] to respond to emerging needs in the face of evolving terrorist threats and emergent crisesย worldwide.โ€

Photo Credit: C-SPANย Screenshot

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Steve Horn is the owner of the consultancy Horn Communications & Research Services, which provides public relations, content writing, and investigative research work products to a wide range of nonprofit and for-profit clients across the world. He is an investigative reporter on the climate beat for over a decade and former Research Fellow for DeSmog.

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