House Natural Resources Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) is seeking to interview a former White House aide he said was involved in the editing of an Interior Department report that erroneously suggested a panel of outside experts endorsed a halt on deepwater drilling following the BP PLC oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Hastings in a Aug. 23 letter asked Joseph Aldy, who is now a professor of public policy at Harvard University, to agree by Sept. 7 to a recorded interview with committee staff to discuss the development, review and editing of the report.

Hastings' request was made public yesterday, less than 24 hours before the committee is scheduled to hear testimony from two Interior Department officials involved in the report's development (E&E Daily, Sept. 10).

The committee's year-and-a-half-long probe aims to discover who may be responsible for the report's errors, and whether they were intentionally added to provide the Obama administration political cover for imposing the Gulf moratorium.

An inspector general report in November 2010 concluded that the error was likely the result of late-night White House edits but that there was no clear intention to mislead the public.

But Hastings said documents obtained by the committee have cast doubt on the IG's impartiality in the matter and that investigators have said access to some officials was blocked.

"It now appears that the IG's lead investigators were prevented from obtaining all documents and information they felt necessary to pursue the investigation, including not being allowed to interview you," Hastings said in the letter to Aldy. "Our review of a limited number of documents that have been made available to us by the department and the IG has raised a number of questions that possibly only you, given your role and involvement, would be expected to be able to answer."

According to one email obtained by the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Richard Larrabee, senior special agent assigned to the investigation, wrote, "I truly believe the editing 'WAS' intentional -- by an overzealous staffer at the White House. And, if asked, I, as the case agent, would be happy to state that opinion to anyone interested."

Aldy, who was special assistant to the president for energy and environment at the time of the report, responded to Hastings last week, saying he had been out of town on vacation with family when the letter was sent and did not return to the office until Sept. 4.

Aldy sent a second letter a day later saying he is on paternity leave with a 4-month-old son and that his schedule will not permit him to travel to Washington within the next week to participate in an interview.

"I appreciate the efforts of the Congress to investigate, understand, and learn lessons from the worst oil spill in U.S. history," he wrote. "I respectfully suggest that your staff follow up with me after the September 13 hearing in the event that you or your colleagues have outstanding questions regarding the report at issue."

Jill Strait, a spokeswoman for Hastings, said the chairman will continue to pursue any means necessary to obtain information from the administration, including White House officials.

Democrats on the panel have called the investigation a political maneuver in an election season. One industry consultant hired to assist in the Interior report, Ken Arnold of K Arnold Consulting Inc. in Houston, last week called the committee's investigation a "witch hunt."