WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Wesley Hunt (R-TX), Chairman of the Small Business Subcommittee on Rural Development, Energy, and Supply Chains held a hearing titled “Energy Independence: How Burdensome Regulations are Crushing Small Offshore Energy Producers.” Subcommittee Chairman Hunt issued the following statement after the hearing:

“Thanks to the witnesses who appeared before our Small Business Subcommittee on Rural Development, Energy, and Supply Chains. Joe Biden and his climate cartel have declared war against domestic energy producers and the results have been devastating to American families,” said Congressman Hunt. “The energy transition the Biden Administration speaks of is a myth. The world needs more electrons and that requires an all-hands-on-deck approach to energy production.  It was an honor to chair today’s hearing and to help give a voice to the concerns of energy producers and thought leaders in this space that are the tip of the spear for American energy dominance.” 

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Below are some key excerpts from today’s hearing:

Chairman Hunt: “Next question is for you, Mr. Danos. American energy companies are leaders in innovation and produce the cleanest oil and gas in the entire world. I know, I've been on these rigs. I've seen them personally. How would the rule on the Rice’s whale and others like it affect the industry's ability to operate at its full capacity and reach its full potential?” Mr. Danos: “Thank you, Chairman. Great question. Any new regulation needs to make sense and needs to be balanced across all stakeholders. And in terms of what it's trying to do, and it needs to be effective. And I think the Rice’s whale for instance, a couple of notes about that. It's very little data that exists that we have the Rice’s whale in the area that was originally pulled out of the last lease sale. So, the balance, the effective components of that regulation just really didn't add up. And one thing related to marine operations that I think is really important to point out when we think about balancing the different stakeholders, oftentimes in the Gulf of Mexico, what we do is we operate vessels at night so that we can do the higher risk work that we do on the platforms during the day. So with the Rice’s whale, regulation prohibiting vessels from moving at night, what you're doing is you flipping that on its head. And the unintended consequence of that is that the people that work for my company and other small businesses and large businesses in the Gulf of Mexico, we are increasing the risk to those people with the work that they're doing because they would have to move more of that work at night as opposed to doing it during daylight hours.”

Rep. Williams: “Mr. Minarovic, you highlight the irony that the compliance cost the administration rules and the BOEM rule in particular, has required your company's capital to be used for compliance, as opposed decommissioning efforts. The question is if regulation compliance costs were eliminated, could you elaborate on how your company would use this additional capital? Because we see this government regulating, regulating, regulating, taking capital away from what we can do to create jobs.” Mr. Minarovic: “Yes, sir. Thank you, Chairman Williams this is an important issue, obviously. Every extra dollar that we spend on regulations, and there needs to be a level of regulations, but every extra dollar we spend on that is a dollar that we can't invest in these properties to continue their life, and also an investment that we can make in decommissioning of these assets over time. And some of the issues that we got into over the last decade with 30 bankruptcies are related to overregulation of those companies and their inability to perform in that environment.”

Rep. Meuser: “So this BOEM rule, we’ll work on this because once again, these sort of government actions hurt those that supposedly it's trying to help by increasing the level of bonds that you need to secure, you expressed it in your in your opening testimony. But it's a completely impossible under the current rules?” Mr. Minarovic: “Yes, sir. Let me respond to your first statement. It's absolutely the case that we're heavily regulated. Industry in the Gulf of Mexico has been heavily regulated for 75 years, the federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico. And there's no better place to get our oil from than the Gulf of Mexico. Not Venezuela, not Russia. It's going to be a lot cleaner… Let's get our barrels from the place where the states that surround it, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, and Louisiana support it. Let's get our barrels from the place where the federal government gets a royalty.”

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