Upton presses Browner for details on oil spill report edits

A Michigan Republican seeking to chair the House Energy and Commerce Committee is pressing White House energy czar Carol Browner for information about controversial changes her office made to a May Interior Department report on offshore drilling safety.

In a letter to Browner Monday, Rep. Fred Upton asked about recent findings by Interior’s inspector general, who concluded that the White House edits left the impression that outside experts consulted on the report had endorsed a six-month ban on deepwater drilling. 

They hadn’t. And now Upton – who had already signaled that Browner is in his crosshairs – wants to know more about the rationale for the edits.

Interior Department officials are emphasizing the inspector general’s conclusion that they did not intentionally seek to mislead.

Upton’s letter asks whether the changes “were made to bolster the case for the moratorium” that Interior imposed in late May and lifted last month.

It states: “Was it the intention of you or your staff to misleadingly suggest that the Report's Executive Summary had been peer reviewed by experts, when that was not actually the case?”

The letter also asks about “what prompted these edits and under whose direction were they made,” and seeks “all written documentation concerning these changes and their authorization.”

Upton’s letter comes as he’s seeking colleagues’ support to chair the powerful Energy and Commerce panel when Republicans assume control of the House next year.

Upton is the latest Republican to question the White House over the changes to the offshore drilling report, which contained safety recommendations and called for the drilling freeze. Three Senate Republicans are also seeking a hearing on the inspector general’s findings.

Many Republicans and Gulf Coast lawmakers from both parties called the drilling ban economically harmful to the region and too broad, while Interior officials said it was needed to ensure safety in the wake of the catastrophic BP oil spill.