The recent appellate court ruling declaring the existing five-year Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) leasing plan for 2007-2012 to be “legally defective” has called into question the Interior Department leases issued for oil and natural gas development in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska under the plan, said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar Wednesday.

“It’s put into question the full issue of what we can do with all those…leases that have been issued in the Gulf of Mexico” and in Alaska, Salazar said in a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy in Washington, DC.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in April vacated and remanded the 2007-2012 OCS leasing plan (see Daily GPI, April 20). “It said that there was not [an] adequate environmental review” of the plan, Salazar said.

At the request of Salazar, the Department of Justice filed a petition Tuesday seeking clarification of the appellate court decision (see Daily GPI, May 13). It has asked the court to clarify that its ruling does not require the retroactive invalidation of prior leases and allows the agency to move forward and fix the shortcomings in the environmental analysis for the existing five-year offshore leasing plan without developing and approving an entirely new five-year plan.

Turning to the issue of energy policy, Salazar said “we need a broad portfolio of energy,” and “yes..part of that does include oil and gas development.” As proof that the Obama administration is supportive of oil and gas, he noted that 10 onshore lease sales have been held since President Obama took office, as well as one sale in the Gulf of Mexico.

“The Obama administration [and] the Department of Interior have embraced oil and gas development as part of our energy portfolio,” he told energy executives. “We look forward to finding additional ways to explore and drill for oil and gas.”

Salazar conceded he has made “two or three [moves] that have been specifically somewhat controversial” with respect to oil and gas, such as withdrawing 77 leases in Utah and delaying the development of a new five-year leasing plan for 2010-2015 (see Daily GPI Feb. 12; Feb. 5).

“I took them [Utah leases] back not necessarily forever, but to make sure that the environmental issues…were in fact adequately addressed,” he said. As for the leasing plan (2010-2015) that’s on hold, Salazar said he didn’t believe the Bush administration had given the public and stakeholders enough time to comment on the plan.

Salazar indicated that Interior “will take a look” at the proposed lease sale off the coast of Virginia as it develops its own leasing plan for 2010-2015.

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