"When Scott Angelle, an oil drilling advocate-turned-industry regulator, finished a hearing before the House Natural Resources Committee last March, lawmakers had some follow-up questions for him — a standard part of the congressional oversight process.

The Interior Department's response to the inquiries, however, was anything but routine.

It took nearly nine months for the department to address committee members' requests for more information about the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement director's role in weakening offshore oil production standards.

And when the agency finally did so at the end of last year, according to interviews with Natural Resources staffers and dozens of emails and documents they shared with E&E News, it required that 29 boxes' worth of documents be hand-delivered to Capitol Hill and physically accepted by a committee staff member — in the midst of a raging public health crisis."

Emma Dumain and Corbin Hiar report for E&E News January 12, 2021. [2]