We recently received some feedback from the Department of Interior regarding our second Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request asking for the detailed breakdown of comments for and against offshore energy development.Unfortunately, their feedback told us that we needed to endure more delays and more feet dragging: They granted themselves a ten business day extension while they processed the requested information and expanded the request to other offices within the Department of Interior.
As you might recall, American Solutions has been actively pressuring the Minerals Management Service, the agency within the Department of Interior tasked with offshore leasing, to release the information they have received directly regarding the public's support for offshore drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).
The process started in October, when we filed our first FOIA in response to internal reports that support for offshore drilling outnumbered opposition by 2-1.
MMS responded with a call for clarification and a rejection of our argument that this was in the public interest and thus did not warrant a fee.
So, in December we filed our second FOIA, which reiterated our point that this information is, indeed, in the public interest.
The most recent response finally acknowledged that the public should know about this, and MMS agreed to waive any fee for processing these requested documents.
Given current events, we're curious about what they will disclose.
The President's State of the Union is tomorrow, a speech where he will likely not mention any new drilling opportunities, against the wishes of a majority of Americans.
While we certainly hope to finally obtain the information we requested, we're skeptical that they will release the facts about offshore drilling around the same time as the President ignores this massive economic boost-in-waiting while touting his dedication to fixing the economy.
After all, if there's an easy way to address at least part of our economic woes, how would it look if the President ignored that solution while his own administration released information showing the public wants it?
We hope the MMS and DOI prove us wrong.
The fact is that opening up the OCS would not require another multi-billion dollar stimulus, and it certainly would not funnel money to pay off Big Labor and expand government. And, unlike the stimulus, it would actually create jobs.
If the President really is concerned about job creation, he should look toward changing his own Department of Interior's de facto ban on offshore energy: offshore drilling has the potential to create millions of new jobs at virtually no cost to the government.
And the expanded energy development would yield trillions of dollars in new government tax receipts over the next several decades.
