Bruce Babbitt, the interior secretary in the Clinton administration and a former governor of Arizona, made one of his periodic forays out of the political wilderness on Tuesday to criticize the Obama administration for favoring oil and gas development over conservation on public lands.
Mr. Babbitt, 74, whose modest demeanor masked the sharpness of his critique of a fellow Democrat, said in a speech at the National Press Club that Mr. Obama was falling behind many of his predecessors in setting aside lands for wilderness while making vast tracts available for drilling.
He noted that President George H.W. Bush and President Bill Clinton protected roughly one acre of public land for every acre made available for hydrocarbon development. Under President George W. Bush, Mr. Babbitt said, industry claimed 7.5 acres for every acre set aside for public use – although that figure does not include the 200 million acres of marine reserve near Hawaii that Mr. Bush decided to protect at the end of his presidency, which would have given him a better ratio than any of his predecessors.
“So far under President Obama, industry has been winning the race as it obtains more and more land for oil and gas,” Mr. Babbitt said. “Over the past four years, the industry has leased more than
six million acres, compared with only 2.6 million acres permanently protected.”
“This lopsided public land administration in favor of the oil and gas industry cannot continue,” he said.
Mr. Obama has pursued an on-again, off-again approach to onshore and offshore oil and gas leasing. Early in his presidency, he proposed a major expansion of drilling rights, then pulled back after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010. He approved oil exploration off the North Slope of Alaska, but industry has complained about the slow pace of leasing on Western lands.
Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, frequently chided Mr. Obama for his supposed hostility to oil and gas development on public lands.
Responding to Mr. Babbitt’s speech, Jessica Kershaw, an Interior Department spokeswoman, said: “As Mr. Babbitt noted, the administration has charted an impressive course for conservation, including launching landmark conservation policies and making unprecedented investments to protect and restore vital lands and waters that support local economies, and we look forward to building on these historic achievements.”
“Our guiding principle from the beginning has been a balanced approach to achieving an all-of-the-above energy strategy while also taking important steps to preserve our treasured landscapes, like the Grand Canyon and the Everglades and partnering with local stakeholders to support their conservation priorities,” she said.
Mr. Babbitt, who has spent his years out of government practicing law, writing and speaking for conservation, proposed that Mr. Obama should right the imbalance by permanently setting aside four million acres of public lands and then maintaining a one-to-one ratio of preserved land to land leased for oil and gas development.
“If the president’s annual goals for land conservation are not met, he should suspend quarterly lease sales until they are,” Mr. Babbitt said. “The threat of lease suspension will provide a strong incentive for the Congress, and industry lobbyists, to act upon pending conservation legislation.”
He acknowledged that it would not be easy with a hostile Congress and an aggressive and well-financed petroleum industry working against the president. He said Mr. Obama should make extensive use of his executive powers, including invocation of the Antiquities Act, to protect scenic and wilderness areas. He also said there was broad public support for conservation and 30 bills pending in Congress at the end of 2012 to protect five million acres at specific sites in 13 states from Oregon to Maine.
Representative Rob Bishop, Republican of Utah, chairman of the public lands subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee, said a significant majority of public lands was already off-limits to commercial development.
He sharply criticized Mr. Babbitt for the designation of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument in Utah at the end of the Clinton administration.
“This locked up the nation’s largest proven coal deposit,” Mr. Bishop said in a statement. “Suggesting that the president hurry up and use the Antiquities Act to unilaterally establish new land designations clearly illustrates that Secretary Babbitt’s agenda is purely political and has little to do with the vitality of states and communities.”
He said the president should ignore Mr. Babbitt’s advice, which he called “an arbitrary formula concocted by a former presidential cabinet member turned liberal activist.”
This is not the first time Mr. Babbitt has jabbed a thorn in Mr. Obama’s side. Two years ago, he blasted the president for failing to confront Congressional Republicans who advocated more mining, logging and drilling on public lands. He blamed political calculations by “munchkins” in the White House for what he deemed cowardice on conservation issues.
Many presidents, including Mr. Clinton and the second Mr. Bush, wait until late in their terms to use executive powers to set aside land for preservation.