By Jessica Goad

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power held a hearing this morning about the differences between drilling for oil and gas on private versus public lands. GOP members of the committee tried to use the hearing to claim the Administration is hampering oil and gas development.

However, a number of witnesses testified to the contrary, saying that there is a substantial amount of drilling occurring on public lands.  The Center for American Progress Action Fund’s Christy Goldfuss was one of them:

Regarding new lands offered for oil and gas development, the Bureau of Land Management held three of the top five largest sales in the agency’s history in calendar year 2011, and this year, it has approved controversial projects to drill in the Arctic Ocean and close to wilderness areas near Desolation Canyon, Utah. With this level of oil and gas activity on public lands, it is clear why a recent New York Times article about oil and gas production on public lands said, “The score card shows that the industry is winning.”

And yet members like Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY) claimed that “the Obama administration has substantially cut back on ...

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