Liberals fret as oil bill trimmed en route to floor

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/110257-liberals-fret-as-oil-bill-trimmed-en-route-to-floor

A leading liberal House Democrat is fuming over what he calls a House leadership decision to pare back oil-and-gas legislation that the Natural Resources Committee approved before the bill arrives on the House floor.

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said major provisions dealing with onshore energy development would not be part of the legislation – which requires new safeguards for offshore oil-and-gas drilling – when it hits the floor next week.

“It’s very disappointing,” Grijalva said in an interview Wednesday. “I think the committee did a really good job in putting together something comprehensive for both onshore and offshore.” Grijalva chairs the National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee. He’s also co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

The overall bill, which the Natural Resources Committee approved along largely party lines July 15, is among the BP oil spill response measures that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) plans to bring up next week.

It includes a host of provisions on offshore energy planning and oversight, such as beefed up drilling rig inspections, more detailed environmental reviews of oil industry exploration plans, and new rig safety requirements, among many others.

But Grijalva said key sections that toughen oversight of land-based energy development have been jettisoned, such as an end to exemptions from federal environmental review for some oil-and-gas activities.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/21/AR2010072106468.html

Three out of every four lobbyists who represent oil and gas companies previously worked in the federal government, a proportion that far exceeds the usual revolving-door standards on Capitol Hill, a Washington Post analysis shows.