Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee hosted a forum that criticized the Trump administration’s “blatant favoritism” toward the fossil fuel industry, but without a Republican showing, their criticism could go largely unchecked.
The “Forum on Trump Administration’s Oil and Gas Favoritism During Shutdown” included Democratic members of the House Natural Resources Committee and other panelists who criticized the White House for continuing to roll out drilling permits during the partial government shutdown — a move they argued is unfair favoritism and possibly illegal.
“This Trump shutdown has become a crisis. People are struggling, our neighbors are suffering, but throughout it all — while many, many people are suffering and in great pain — the oil and gas industry has remained unscathed,” said Democratic California Rep. Alan Lowenthal, who began the forum. “And the administration continues to advance their priorities across the country.”
A major point of contention for Democrats is the Department of Interior’s decision to continue processing oil drilling applications during the government shutdown.
Since the shutdown began, the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management has rolled out more than 150 permits to drill on federal land — a far cry from the Obama administration’s decision to completely freeze drilling permits during the 2013 government shutdown.
However, drilling permits are largely immune from the government shutdown, as they are funded privately through fees. Democrats at the forum, nevertheless, suggested the continuation of permits may violate federal law.
No officials from the Trump administration were asked to testify, according to a GOP source close to the committee.
The source informed The Daily Caller News Foundation that Democratic staffers did not notify Republican members or staff of the forum beforehand.
A spokeswoman for the Democrats on the committee could not confirm in time for publication of this article whether or not they failed to alert their GOP counterparts.
Because the House Natural Resources Committee has not been reconstituted since the beginning of the new Congress, the meeting was a technically “forum” and not a “hearing.”
That technicality likely allowed Democrats the ability to skip notifying Republican staffers, the GOP source said to TheDCNF.
Every panelist who spoke at the Thursday forum were either tied to Democratic politics or progressive organizations.
A spokeswoman for the Interior Department criticized assertions the administration is playing “favorite” to the fossil fuel industry, pointing out many parts of the department are still business as usual.
“During the partial lapse, tens of thousands of people have the opportunity to visit national parks and national wildlife refuges while we keep them maintained, clean, and safe,” Interior spokeswoman Faith Vander Voort told Bloomberg. “To say that we are playing favorites is fake news.”
The Interior has, for example, has ensured around 36,000 retired miners are still getting health insurance benefits on schedule, almost 200 Bureau of Indian Education schools are still open and serving around 42,000 children, and the Interior has continued to care for wild horses — all during the shutdown.
The Thursday forum was not surprising given forwarding from Democrats after the midterm elections.
After Democrats gained control of the House of Representatives, then-ranking Democrat member, Raul Grijalva, a lawmaker from Arizona, said he would target the Trump administration once he grabbed the reins of the Natural Resources Committee.
Read more at Daily Caller
Until the Left has an alternative source of energy that can replace fossil fuels, they shouldn’t draw attention to their current offering. Billion$ spent flogging their windmills and solar panels, a conflagration that only works with the support of gas, coal , hydroelectric and nuclear.
The whole world can’t live off the grid.
The mindless braying coming from the DNC the many liberal Tax & Spend Liberal Democrats who openly boast about raising our taxes opening our borders and disarming us all as part of their plans for the North American(Soviet)Union and the New World Order all under the Useless Nations
The Dems are absolutely wrong on the fossil fuel issue but I suspect they know it and because so many people believe in the climate fraud propaganda theDems can use it to bring on (as Spurling Plover says it) … their plans for the North American(Soviet)Union and the New World Order all under the Useless Nations. In a few years, when the stupid windmills start falling apart as they are now doing in Germany, if the Dems have their way, America’s electrical grid will be destroyed because there will no effective replacement such as fossil fuels would provide. The Dem “progressives” want to destroy capitalism and hand U.S. sovereignty over to a world government and “climate change” which has nothing to do with climate, is one of their key means of doing so.
We have exactly the same issues here in Australia. We have Labor (akin to Dems) promising more taxes, more illegal immigration, more money wasted on climate change etc. The loopy, loony and critically dangerous Communist lefties all sing from the same worn old USSR songbook. We have had a hot summer in Australia and our electricity grid now is in dire straights, thanks to the Communists. The southern state of Victoria, now widely mocked as Victoriastan had huge blackouts in the last few days. Their capital had its once in 3 years scorcher and their energy minister took to the airwaves and told a series of blatant lies to cover their crass stupidity. As usual here the political Communists all blame climate change. We even have our world famous false prophet Tim “Flimflam” Flannery re-emerging into the scene. This guy frightened Australian politicians into spending billions of dollars for desalination plants that came directly from his bogus fortune telling. From all accounts he is our Al Gore but worse and even after all the fails, he still gets public backing! Can’t figure it, we have lost our collective minds.
Yellow vests seem very effective. Macron turned hard working truckers into rock throwing crazies, mad as hell.
Macron caved and they don’t have to take it anymore.
It is very typical for liberals to shut out those who disagree with them. This web site has had many articles about this on climate change. The liberals have very good reason to do so. They know that their agenda can’t standup to those who disagree with them.