Secretary of Natural Resources to keynote Marine Log OEC 2013

Secretary of Natural Resources Doug Domenech

Virginia’s Secretary of Natural Resources, the Honorable Doug Domenech, has been confirmed as the keynote speaker for Marine Log’s Offshore Energy Challenges 2013 Conference, which is scheduled for December 3-4, 2013 at the Washington Marriott in Washington, DC.

Secretary Domenech is expected to talk about opening up new areas of the Outer Continental Shelf to offshore energy development. Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell is one of eight governors that belong to the OCS Governors Coalition, which was formed in May 2011 to  promote offshore energy development. The OCS Governors Coalition wants to:

• Improve communication between federal and state officials on OCS issues.

• Improve understanding of potential energy resources and opportunities adjacent to the various coastal states.

• Improve understanding of the impact those energy resources could have on local, state and federal revenues.

• Improved management and stewardship of coastal resources related to coastal and ocean activities.

Other Governors in the OCS Governors Coalition include:

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, Alaska Governor Sean Parnell, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and Texas Governor Rick Perry.

The coalition, for example, would like to see the permitting process sped up for operators on federal owned lands and waters. For example, statistics show that the average approval time for a plan in the Gulf of Mexico was 110.6 days in July 2012, up from an historical average of 61 days. 

According to the federal government, the U.S. OCS contains an estimated 88.6 billion bbls of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and 398.4 trillion ft3 of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas.  Moreover, shallow areas in Atlantic, Eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific have been identified as showing strong potential for offshore wind development.

Despite these vast resources, many of these areas remain closed to exploration and production due to federal policies that restrict access.  

Even after over 50 years of OCS exploration and development, 70% of total resources are yet to be discovered.  Of this, more than half of this potential exists in areas of the Outer Continental Shelf outside the central and western Gulf of Mexico.

With the Interior Secretary Salazar’s approval of theProposed Final Five-Year Plan for Oil and Gas Leasing for 2012-2017 in August 2012, the Department has decided not to open access to any new frontiers for the next five years, including in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Mid- and South-Atlantic.  The decision foregoing lease sales in the Mid-Atlantic came despite strong bipartisan support from Virginia’s Congressional and Commonwealth officials for the reinstatement of lease sales off Virginia. The exclusion of new frontier areas in this five-year plan means that exploration of these rich offshore areas will not proceed until at least 2018, if not later.

Areas of particular interest include:

• The Mid-Atlantic: Mean estimates of undiscovered technically recoverable resources (UTRR) resources are 1.4 billion bbls of oil and 19.36 trillion ft³ of gas;

• The South-Atlantic: Mean estimates of UTRR are 500 million bbls of oil and 2 trillion ft³ of gas;

• Eastern Gulf of Mexico (parts are under Congressional moratorium under 2022): Mean estimates of UTRR are 5 billion bbls of oil and 16 trillion ft³ of gas.

Conversely, the OCS Governors Coalition is pleased with the progress in advancing offshore wind development in many areas.  Existing leases off the Northeast coast and future leases in additional areas will play an important role in providing renewable electricity to coastal states and furthering energy diversity and security for coastal communities.  The Coalition believes that resource evaluation and leasing has been successful thus far due in part to the level of coordination between the states and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on leasing and development decisions.  Tasks forces developed and executed in states such as South Carolina and Virginia in many ways exhibit the type of communication and coordination that should occur with all offshore energy development decisions.

The OCS Governors Coalition strongly believes the federal government must expand opportunities for offshore energy development.  Rising global demand for energy requires that the United States proactively pursue development of American resources – both traditional and renewable—to minimize dependence on foreign energy.  Furthermore, states must have a more active voice in determining whether areas off their coasts are available for energy development.

Currently, offshore revenue-sharing as provided under the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (2006) only extends to the four states (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama) included in the original legislation.  Alaska, Virginia, North Carolina and other states that are either developing offshore resources or are exploring the potential are not provided revenue-sharing under current law.

Domenech was appointed Virginia’s Secretary of Natural resources on January 17, 2010 by Governor Robert F. McDonnell. 

Prior to his appointment, Secretary Domenech was the Senior Vice President of Artemis Strategies; a Washington, DC-based bipartisan government relations and strategic communications firm.  He was also a principal at Chrysalis Energy Partners, a green energy consulting firm focused on onshore and offshore renewable sources including biomass, wind and solar.

Domenech served in the George W. Bush Administration at the U.S. Department of Interior in Washington, DC from 2001 to 2009.  While there he held positions as Deputy Director of External and Intergovernmental Affairs, White House Liaison, and in 2005 he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff to the Secretary of the Interior, the number two staff position in the Office of the Secretary.  In this position he worked with senior managers for all nine Interior Bureaus, had senior oversight of the US/UNESCO World Heritage Program administered by the United Nations, and oversaw the Interior Crisis Action Team. 

Secretary Domenech also served as the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Insular Affairs where he managed U.S. relations with seven insular areas including US Territories of the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the US Freely Associated States of Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands. Policy issues addressed in this role included energy, security, economic development and health. He also served on the Advisory Council of the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico.

Prior to serving at the U.S. Department of the Interior, Secretary Domenech had a career in natural resource management.  A 1978 Forestry and Wildlife Management graduate of Virginia Tech, he worked with ITT Rayonier, the US Forest Service and as the Acting Director of the Timber Harvesting Management Program at Alabama A&M University where he conducted field research funded by the USDA Forest Service and Tennessee Valley Authority. 

In 1981 he went to work for the Forest Resources Association (then called the American Pulpwood Association), a national technical trade association which represents producers and consumers of raw wood material. He served the Association as the Southwestern Division Forester in Jackson, MS, and then as the Southeastern Division Forester in Charleston, SC. He later became the Director of Forestry Programs at the FRA’s headquarters in Washington, DC from 1990-1993.

Secretary Domenech was appointed by Virginia Governor George Allen to the Goose Creek Scenic River Advisory Board and the Commonwealth Competition Council. Under Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore he was appointed to the Virginia Board of Forestry. 

He received his Bachelors of Science in Forestry and Wildlife Management from Virginia Tech in 1978.  The Secretary is married to the former Jeanne Schram, a 1979 Forestry and Wildlife Management graduate.  They have four children.