House Dem blasts Interior move to bring back workers to handle oil-drilling land sales

In a letter sent on Wednesday to acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, Grijalva, D-Arizona, wrote that the committee learned that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management had changed its contingency plan earlier this month "to allow employees to continue working on seismic permits, upcoming offshore lease sales, and the five-year offshore oil and gas leasing program."

"We urge you to reverse these actions immediately and prioritize health, safety and the protection of natural resources over the needs of the oil and gas industry," Grijalva wrote in the letter. "If you refuse, we insist that you come to Capitol Hill this week for a detailed briefing providing the legal justification for what appears to be a violation of the Antideficiency Act, and providing information on where the funding for these activities is coming from, how it is being spent, and what the consequences are of spending that funding during the shutdown."

The Antideficiency Act prohibits "accepting voluntary services for the United States, or employing personal services not authorized by law."

CNN reported on Tuesday that the department -- which has mostly been been closed since December 22 -- was using funds leftover from last year to cover the work, according to department spokeswoman Faith Vander Voort.

The Interior Department's contingency plan, which was amended on January 8, states, "If the lapse in appropriations extends past January 15, additional personnel will be designated as exempt to complete work to publish Proposed Notice for Gulf of Mexico Sale 253 and Final Notice of Sale and Record of Decision for Gulf of Mexico Sale 252."

Vander Voort said the Gulf of Mexico sales are scheduled for March and August, and if the "statute-driven processes" are not completed in a timely manner, "a lease sale(s) would be cancelled or delayed," and the money from those sales would not be given to the federal government.

The Bureau of Land Management, another office in the Interior Department, used leftover funds from last year to hold public hearings about an agency plan that would make Arctic land available for oil and gas leasing purchases. Stakeholders were notified that the meetings would take place a day beforehand.