House Republicans seek probe of offshore drilling report changes

House Natural Resources Committee Republicans are asking the Interior Department’s inspector general to probe the drafting of an Interior report in May that Secretary Ken Salazar used to justify a six-month freeze on deepwater oil-and-gas drilling.

They say the report on offshore safety wrongly claims engineers that Interior consulted supported the drilling freeze.

Ranking Member Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) and several others, in a letter Tuesday to acting IG Mary Kendall, state the report recommending the ban “was presented to the President and the American people as having been peer-reviewed by a group of prominent engineers.”

“Following the release of the report it was discovered that this statement was patently false,” the letter states. “The engineers have come forward to declare that the report was edited by political appointees after their review but prior to presentation to the President.” Other signers include Reps. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) and John Duncan (R-Tenn.).

“There are important questions about this incident that must be answered,” they write. “Who in the Administration ignored the recommendation of scientists and made these changes?  Were any laws broken? Who made the decision to misrepresent the views of the scientists? Were the changes influenced by the White House? Were the changes recommended by outside groups?”
 
Many Republicans and Gulf Coast lawmakers from both parties have attacked the drilling ban, calling it an overreaction to the BP oil spill that will create widespread economic hardship in Gulf states that rely on oil industry-related jobs.

A federal judge struck down the drilling ban in June, siding with oil services companies that alleged the Interior had not justified the measure.

But Salazar issued a revised version in mid-July. Administration officials say a pause is crucial in the wake of the BP disaster while new safety measures are implemented and a White House-created commission reviews needed policy changes.

Update: Interior Department spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff disputed the lawmakers’ framing of the issue, noting the National Academy of Engineering experts consulted for the report were, in fact, not asked to review or comment on the moratorium decision.

“They were asked only to peer-review the 22 safety recommendations contained in the report on a technical basis, and they performed that task,” she said. 

This post was updated at 5:52 p.m. on July 20.