Federal budget cuts scheduled to take effect at the end of the year unless Congress acts sooner "would have a significant impact on oil and gas production, safety and environmental protection, and revenue collection," according to a key House lawmaker.

In a 15-page letter sent to his colleagues today, House Appropriations ranking member Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) seeks to illustrate the impact that so-called sequestration cuts would have on a wide range of government services. The cuts, mandated by the deal lawmakers reached to raise the debt ceiling last year and set to kick in Jan. 1 absent congressional action, would set up 8.2 percent reductions in most federal agency budgets.

Dicks laid out stark warnings to his colleagues, meant to "help make the case for Congress to act responsibly by agreeing to a more sensible approach to deficit reduction."

"Sequestration is not so much a back-up plan as an inducement for all sides to reach a compromise," Dicks wrote. "Clearly, any thoughtful, deliberate agreement will be an improvement over the mechanical and indiscriminate nature of sequestration cuts."

Dicks notes that sequestration cuts would strip $37.4 million from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, and Office of Natural Resources Revenue budgets, forcing them to reduce their workforce and put on hold reforms the Interior Department has begun implementing to encourage more oil and gas production.

"No additional safety inspectors could be hired and recently hired safety inspectors would need to be laid off, resulting in the potential for reduced safety and a greater number of accidents offshore," he wrote. "Ironically, a cut of this magnitude would [mean] less revenue collected for the federal government, as well as the increased possibility of fraud as audits would have to be curtailed."

Dicks also argues:

• that sequestration "would cut nearly $196 million from the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water funds used to improve and repair water and wastewater infrastructure all over America," at a time when the United States is already lagging in its investments in water infrastructure. He says the cuts also represent "a missed opportunity to add an estimated 4,900 to 10,780 engineering, construction and other support service jobs."

• that sequestration would dramatically hinder the government's ability to prepare for and fight wildfires.

• that the cuts "would significantly impact the National Weather Service's forecasting capability ... putting American communities at greater risk from tornadoes, hurricanes and other major weather events."

• that the cuts would greatly harm the Agriculture Department's ability to inspect slaughterhouses and food processing plants, leading to food shortages and higher prices.

• that "sequestration would cut $423 million from Science and ARPA-E at the Department of Energy," a reduction that "would significantly curtail fundamental research in areas of science that are a key to our nation's prosperity and to preserving America's place as the world leader in science and technology."

• that sequestration would greatly hinder the work of the National Nuclear Security Administration, which works to secure the nation's nuclear stockpile.

"In conclusion, Congress must find a way to replace sequestration with a balanced approach to long-term deficit reduction that focuses on economic growth and job creation, and does no harm to our economic recovery in the short-run," Dicks wrote.