03.06.19

Chair Grijalva, Subcommittee Chair Lowenthal Renew Request for Offshore Oil Regulator’s Phone Records

Washington, D.C. – Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), chair of the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, today sent a letter to Acting Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt requesting phone records for Scott Angelle, director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. The request comes shortly before the Committee convenes a hearing at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time today on offshore drilling issues at which Angelle declined to testify.

Today’s letter, available at http://bit.ly/2TuVIEO, follows a similar Nov. 16, 2018, request for Angelle’s phone logs, which received no response. The chairs write that in addition to Angelle’s records, “We hope you will also explain why we have received no response to a November 16, 2018, letter to Assistant Secretary [Joe] Balash requesting this same information.”

As today’s letter notes, Angelle gave an October 2017 keynote address to LAGCOE, an organization of energy companies, during which he provided the audience his cell number and explained, “I’d rather you call me. Everything you text me is a public record so be careful…Everything that you send me in email is a public record…This is a business opportunity to engage with me on what you believe we ought to be about.”

The chairs write today:

It is inappropriate for federal regulators to encourage the entities they regulate to avoid public records laws. There is currently no way for the public to know who Director Angelle has talked to, how often, for how long, or whether those discussions were relevant to BSEE decisions. Director Angelle has made a mockery of transparency and public trust in federal decision-making, and his actions create the appearance of a preemptive cover-up.

The letter seeks “all calls to and from Director Angelle’s cell phone number from May 23, 2017, through March 6, 2019; if Director Angelle’s cell phone number is now different, provide the records for calls to and from his current number from the date he began using it through March 6, 2019.”

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