Markey queries Us interior on offshore sale process

摘要

Washington-The ranking member of the US House Natural Resources Committee on January 11 questioned whether the Interior Department's system for holding offshore oil and gas lease sales results in the highest possible payoff for taxpayers. Representative Edward Markey, Democrat- Massachusetts, said he is concerned about what he called the "lack of competitive bid- ding in auctions for drilling rights" in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere. Markey specifically questioned the fact that only 20 companies competed for the 191 offshore tracts in the Western Gulf sale held in December.