After 1 year in off ice, Energy Sec. James Watkins, Interior Sec. Manuel Lujan, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator William Reilly are shaping energy policy in very different ways.
Watkins is the best energy secretary yet. The retired Navy admiral has given his 12 year old department the solid leadership and direction it has always lacked.
Under the Carter administration DOE was more the antagonist of the industry, enforcing ill-drafted price and allocation rules, than the protagonist. Under the Reagan administration, that attitude shifted to benign neglect.
A PLEDGE FULFILLED
Last April, Deputy Energy Sec. Henson Moore promised oilmen, "You're going to see an activist department that you've never seen before." That pledge is being fulfilled.
Watkins has focused most of his attention on DOE's problems with its aging nuclear weapons plants. His extensive nuclear experience was the major reason he got his job.
But he's found time to work with Moore, a former Louisiana congressman, to refocus DOE's oil research efforts and to draft a strategy that not only spells out U.S. energy goals but also offers a blueprint for achieving them.
At DOE's recent budget briefings, Watkins' mastery of the issues was impressive. He gave competent, detailed answers to questions, said "deficiencies" in DOE management are being corrected, and gave DOE's bureaus long term goals that will help them set priorities.
By contrast, the Interior Department's budget briefing appeared to be more of a public relations show. Lujan read a short prepared statement and quickly left, leaving others to answer questions about his budget.
A booklet was distributed extolling Lujan's achievements the past year. But in the oil and gas area, there were no real initiatives. And the "achievements" cited-like holding a Gulf of Mexico lease sale, reacting to the Exxon Valdez spill, issuing a reserves report, and coordinating actions with other agencies-would have been notable only if they had not occurred.
Perhaps it's unfair to expect too much of Lujan. The Interior secretary has the responsibilities of developing public land while at the same time protecting it. All of his predecessors have ended up as punching bags for developers and environmentalists alike.
But it's hard to understand why Lujan, a former 20 year congressman, believes developmental-environmental disputes can be resolved through discussion and negotiation. That approach has not worked in the past, and his eagerness to talk has been perceived only as a reluctance to act decisively.
ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATE
Reilly, former head of the World Wildlife Fund and Conservation Foundation, has been an effective, articulate advocate for tougher environmental standards.
He has been much less compromising than his predecessor, apparently yielding only when overruled by his boss.
That man, President Bush, wants to go down in history as the "environmental president." He can't do that without a William Reilly running EPA.
Their partnership was reconfirmed last month when Bush reversed himself and decided EPA should be elevated to a cabinet department.
Copyright 1990 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
