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API's Gerard: 'Respect' for Salazar, hopes 'reality has now settled in' on drilling
American Petroleum Institute (API) CEO Jack Gerard bid outgoing Interior Secretary Ken Salazar farewell Wednesday, and said his replacement would ideally come from a Western state.
Gerard said that the Obama administration came to Washington, D.C., with “some pretty strong views” on energy policy that were antithetical to fossil fuels.
Still, Gerard said he had “a lot of respect” for the departing Interior chief, who manages the federal lands the oil-and-gas industry wants to tap.
“As you know, the secretary and I have had different views on some issues for some time. However, while I’ve disagreed on the policy, we haven’t been disagreeable on a personal level,” Gerard told reporters at an event hosted by the U.S. Energy Association.
Interior announced Wednesday that Salazar would leave his post in March.
Gerard said API and Interior are "listening to each other better," and said he was hopeful the recent domestic shale oil-and-gas boom would lead to more industry-friendly policy from the White House.
“I think while the trend early on was to curtail our potential ... on federal lands, I’m hopeful that reality has now settled in,” Gerard said. “We’re hopeful that there will be some adjustments in their policies.”
Industry wants more access to federal lands, saying the White House keeps too much of them off-limits. While oil and gas production has increased under Obama, most of that boost has come from private and state lands.
While Gerard declined to offer specific suggestions on Salazar’s successor, he said he prefers someone from a Western state. He said such officials would understand the regulatory issues facing the oil-and-gas industry because they have experience managing swathes of federal, state and privately controlled lands.
“There’s unique opportunities and challenges coming from the public lands, and so I think it’s important to have someone who has that as part of their DNA,” Gerard said.
