Today, Congressman Doug Lamborn (CO-05) questioned Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar about the backlog of oil and gas permits on western lands. Thousands of leases sold in the region in the past few years still await decisions on whether they ultimately will be issued or not. Companies have paid more than $100 million for unissued leases across the region. The government has not offered to refund that money, nor has it granted the go-ahead for companies to produce on public lands. Currently, those lease payments are held by the federal government for months and years with no certainty as to when either the leases will be issued or the lease payments refunded. It is critical that the federal government not continue to withold approval of legitimate permit requests. Also, it must not arbitrarily take back permits that have been lawfully issued.

Excerpts of Congressman Lamborn's and Secretary Salazar's exchange during testimony before the House Committee on Natural Resources

Lamborn: You were asked about this issue during an interview with the editorial board of the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel in August of 2009 and were quoted as saying that you could not withdraw the Roan Plateau leases because once those leases were signed, they provided the buyers with a property right that you and your agency were bound to protect. Since I have short period of time, I would appreciate it if you would answer the following questions with a yes or no answer:

Do you stand by this statement you made to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel?

Secretary Salazar:Click on video link to hear answer.

Lamborn: A local Forest Supervisor in Wyoming recently signed a record of decision in which she decided the government should cancel oil and gas leases that have already been issued. Since BLM leases federal oil and gas resources underlying national forests, how and when do you intend to notify the Forest Service that the Department of Interior cannot and will not cancel federal oil and gas leases that have been issued for Forest Service parcels?

Secretary Salazar: Congressman Lamborn, we will follow the law.

Lamborn: As the Secretary of the Interior, do you and your agency intend to protect the private property rights of companies holding federal oil and gas leases that have been signed and issued?

Secretary Salazar: The answer is, we will protect private property rights and follow the law in terms of what the law requires us to do.

Click on the video link to view the entire exchange and hear the Secretary's answers to all of the questions.

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