By: Phil Taylor, E&E Reporter
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar today suggested he may not fully merge the Office of Surface Mining with the Bureau of Land Management, a sign the department is backtracking on plans announced in October.
"I think at the end of the day, there is going to continue [to be] a separate OSM and a separate BLM," Salazar told reporters after a budget hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Salazar said he has yet to read a report by Interior Deputy Secretary David Hayes exploring the possible merger that was based largely on public comments and a series of stakeholder meetings around the country. But he plans to discuss his agency's evolving proposal in the coming weeks.
"My sense is the guidance from this committee and your staff ... means that there's not going to be the wholesale consolidation that was once planned for OSM and BLM," he said. "But there will be changes, and there will be more efficient ways of doing our work."
The department plans to transfer some functions and create other efficiencies to improve the operation of both agencies, Salazar said.
Salazar was responding to a question from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who said he still has significant concerns with the proposal.
"I can't seem to find anybody in favor who thinks this would be a good thing," Manchin said. "I don't see the generation of savings."
Salazar in October outlined plans for moving OSM into the Bureau of Land Management (Greenwire, Oct. 26, 2011).
But environmental activists, industry leaders and state regulators alike expressed skepticism about the proposal (Greenwire, Jan. 30).