Jeff Bingaman: “the second of these issues relates to oil and gas leasing in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. The Naval…”

“the second of these issues relates to oil and gas leasing in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. The Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act of 1976 established the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. Four years later, the Department of the Interior Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1981, Public Law 96- 514, directed the Secretary of the Interior to open the Reserve to competitive oil and gas leasing, subject to specific terms and conditions. Both the House bill and the Senate amendment transferred the competitive leasing program in the appropriations act into the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act. The Senate amendment went further, however, by requiring the Secretary of the Interior to prevent, to the maximum extent practicable, and to mitigate, adverse effects from leasing and development activities. The conference report omits this additional Senate language. It is my understanding, however, that the Senate language was omitted because the Department of the Interior is already interpreting the standard in existing law in the manner set forth in the Senate language. For that reason, the conferees decided that the language was unnecessary. Is that the case?”