Former Interior Department Official Travis Annatoyn Comments on Energy Permitting During Shutdown in E&E News
Travis Annatoyn, Arnold & Porter Environmental counsel and former Deputy Solicitor for Energy and Mineral Resources at the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), was quoted in the E&E News article, “Shutdown may slow oil and gas drilling on public lands.” The article examined how the federal government shutdown could affect energy permitting and operations across agencies.
Travis noted that some energy-related agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, may be able to continue certain functions during the shutdown because of independent funding sources.
He added that the administration’s broad use of emergency authorities could play a role in sustaining energy production. “The administration has taken a pretty expansive view of its emergency authorities across the board,” he said. “Is this a situation where they apply that type of thinking to keep conventional energy production ramped up to 10? I think it’s not out of the question.”
Travis also cautioned that gaps in agency staffing and leadership could affect the government’s responsiveness to industry. “Precisely because federal agencies are so sprawling and at the moment a bit starved of institutional expertise and a full roster of politically appointed leadership, you could see offices here and there that are not responding to those types of requests as you might expect,” he explained.
