At a Capitol Hill hearing Tuesday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) expressed support for approving a transboundary agreement between the United States and Mexico that would govern the development of oil and natural gas resources along the two countries’ maritime boundary in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee called the hearing to consider legislation (S. 812) that would give the Interior Department secretary authority to implement the agreement. The Senate has until February to pass a bill. The committee, however, has not scheduled a mark-up of a bill. The Mexican Senate ratified the agreement in April 2012, and the U.S. House passed legislation in June.

The transboundary agreement would:

“I view this agreement as an important step toward greater North American energy security. The Congressional Research Service says that the United States and Canada are ‘joined at the well’ when it comes to energy, and I believe we should strive for the same relationship with Mexico,” said Murkowski, the ranking member on the Senate energy panel.

The Obama administration has said it supports the overarching goal of the transboundary agreement, but it cannot support the House bill passed in June because it violates a requirement under the Dodd-Frank law (see Daily GPI, May 17). Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was one of the signatories to the U.S.-Mexico agreement.

The administration specifically took issue with a provision in the House bill that would exempt companies participating in the transboundary development from complying with a Dodd-Frank requirement to report payments associated with resource extraction to the United States or foreign governments. “The provision directly and negatively impacts U.S. efforts to increase transparency and accountability, particularly in the oil, gas and minerals sector,” said the Office of Management Budget in a statement.

The Senate Energy Committee legislation does not give companies a pass on reporting their extraction payments to the Securities and Exchange Commission.