HYDE-SMITH QUESTIONS INTERIOR SEC. ON OFFSHORE OVERSIGHT PLAN, NATCHEZ TRACE PARKWAY MAINTENANCE

HYDE-SMITH QUESTIONS INTERIOR SEC. ON OFFSHORE OVERSIGHT PLAN, NATCHEZ TRACE PARKWAY MAINTENANCE

FY27 Budget Proposes Reuniting Outer Continental Shelf Oversight Agencies

VIDEO: Senator Hyde-Smith Questions Interior Secretary Burgum on FY2027 Budget Matters.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today endorsed the Trump administration's plan to unify federal agency oversight for offshore energy production but also sought assurances that the proposal would not compromise workforce or environmental safety.

The consolidation of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) to form the Marine Minerals Administration was among the issues raised by Hyde-Smith during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing to review the FY2027 budget request for the U.S. Department of the Interior.

"I commend the Department's efforts on doing that and to improve the efficiency across these agencies. I think it's just such a smart idea. But it is also important that the Department continues to build on or prioritize the safety of the offshore oil and gas workforce," Hyde-Smith said. "I represent Mississippi. We're on the Gulf of America. We have so many constituents who work in this area, and I can list family after family that has been affected by things that have happened out there as they were at work. But Mr. Secretary, how does the Department believe this plan will maintain and improve the safety of offshore rigs?"

Burgum testified that despite currently being separate administratively, many BOEM and BSEE employees are already "co-located" and that streamlining the administration of offshore oversight should increase overall safety.

"Those folks were arbitrarily divided some years ago. They are often co-located in the same places, working together. We believe that we can both, on safety and on regulations, improve the efficiency of how we deliver that, and people in both these organizations are excited about the opportunity to work as one," Burgum said. "On the regulatory and safety teams, when they're traveling to an offshore rig, we essentially can have more people available to do inspections than what we have right now, because before we had the duplication of two different groups. So, it is, I think, just a smart step forward in terms of delivering on both environmental protection and safety for the workers."

Burgum also said the 11th National Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Program, which will outline a new five-year offshore oil and gas lease sale schedule, is on course, as required by law.

"First, in terms of the leasing program, we're happy to follow the law in terms of actually holding lease sales and having that be a predictable thing. Because when it's predictable, then companies can do their research, they can invest their capital, that helps communities, that helps suppliers, it helps everything, and it helps, of course, our energy security as a nation," Burgum said to Hyde-Smith, alluding to the Biden administration's refusal to follow the law regarding offshore lease sales.

Hyde-Smith also touched on National Park Service (NPS) maintenance of the Natchez Trace Parkway, which she pointed out is still recovering from damage caused by recent droughts and pine beetles.

"The Trace, much like the rest of Mississippi, continues to see the fallout from the 2023 drought and pine beetles that devastated the trees across our state. Any highway, any area of the state that you go to, we can normally find evidence of that," Hyde-Smith said. "As the Park Service continues to work through maintenance backlogs, what is the status of maintenance along the Trace, and how can we work together to improve cleaning up along this very important parkway that we drive 50 miles an hour on and no faster?"

Burgum painted a bleak picture of chronic underfunding for NPS and advocated reauthorization of the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF).

"The chronic underfunding of federal assets and resources within Interior is a chronic issue. Passing, you know, the LRF to allow us to have that tackle some of that deferred maintenance would be awesome and would free up dollars," Burgum said. "We heard there's a lot of support for reauthorizing LRF but, you know, let's go because that will give us the ability to tackle that."

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