Bush To Demand End To Offshore Drilling Ban Today
WASHINGTON — President Bush plans to make a renewed push Wednesday to get Congress to end a long-standing ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, echoing a call by GOP presidential candidate John McCain.
Congressional Democrats have opposed lifting the prohibitions on energy development on nearly all federal Outer Continental Shelf waters for more than a quarter-century, including waters along both the East and West coasts.
With oil prices soaring and motorists paying $4 a gallon for gasoline, political pressures have been growing for more domestic oil and gas production.
“The president believes Congress shouldn’t waste any more time,” White House press secretary Dana Perino told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
“He will explicitly call on Congress to … pass legislation lifting the congressional ban on safe, environmentally friendly offshore oil drilling,” Perino said. “He wants to work with states to determine where offshore drilling should occur.”
Bush also will reiterate his call for development of oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, Perino said. McCain has opposed drilling in the refuge, maintaining that the pristine areas in northeastern Alaska should be protected from energy development.
On Monday, McCain made lifting the federal ban on offshore oil and gas development a key part of his energy plan. The Arizona senator said states should be allowed to pursue energy exploration in waters near their coasts and receive some of the royalty revenue.
Bush has made clear in recent weeks that the drilling moratorium in coastal waters should end to allow for more domestic oil production and help “take the pressure off the price of gasoline.”
Democrats, as well as some Republican senators from coastal states, have opposed lifting the drilling prohibitions, fearful that energy development could harm tourism and raise the risk of oil spills on beaches.
Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate for president, opposes lifting the ban on offshore drilling and says that allowing exploration now wouldn’t affect gasoline prices for at least five years.
Congress imposed the drilling moratorium in 1981 and has extended it each year since by prohibiting the Interior Department from spending money on offshore oil or gas leases in virtually all coastal waters outside the western Gulf of Mexico and in some areas off Alaska.
President George H.W. Bush imposed a separate executive drilling ban in 1990, which was extended by President Clinton and then by the current president until 2012.
Bush has been considering lifting the executive ban as a symbolic move to get Congress to take action, but he decided against doing so for the time being, said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because internal deliberations were involved.
The House Appropriations Committee was scheduled to vote on legislation Wednesday that included a provision that would continue the drilling moratorium into late 2009. Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., planned to try to strip that provision from the bill. A proposal Peterson offered last week that would open all federal waters 50 miles from shore to oil and gas development was rejected by an Appropriations subcommittee on a 9-6 party-line vote.
(AP)
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How many Gulf rigs spilled during Katrina? None.
200,000 more bpd apparently makes more of a difference than “just pennies”.
Everyone on the record.
(everyone)
June 17th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
June 18th, 2008 at 1:18 amPresident Bush may get what he is demanding with regards to offshore drilling, but i can guarantee you he will not get ANWR. personally, i think the democrats enjoy the fact that we are being held hostage by the criminals in the middle east and venezuela. how else do you explain this damn mess we are in.
and whatever happened to the oil in Colorado? why didnt the president mention that if we supposedly have all that oil there? or montana
June 18th, 2008 at 3:21 amYea. We couldn’t dream of killing little cute fluffy polar bears. But we’re perfectly fine funding terrorism. Am I missing something here?
June 18th, 2008 at 3:53 amKurt,
June 18th, 2008 at 5:05 amyou are talking about the shale reserves out west. I heard the dems past a bill in the wee hours of the a.m. and the law prohibits drilling out west-colorado, montana areas. This is proof they can care less that we are paying the terrorist to kill our guys, and threaten all we are and all we have.
Wow it is McSame’s desire also. GWB was told by his own brother, when he was Gov or Florida - NO WAY! Then he was told by Republican Gov Arnold - NO WAY!
I suggest that we all suck it in and review other options of $4.00/gallon. There is tidal wave energy, Wind energy, Solar energy, geothermal energy and new cars just a year or two away from not needing oil in the quantity we use today.
Let us bear the burden now for a short time to make something else work. You don’t complain that the medical industry have answers today for all those that are dying because we don’t have a cure today, but they are coming!
June 18th, 2008 at 6:21 amKurt,
My guess is that with Congress and Senate in the enemy’s hands, Bush has to propose drilling in baby steps: Offshore first, then Colorado, then ANWR, then Beetle Crap.
June 18th, 2008 at 6:51 amBut seriously, W ‘08
June 18th, 2008 at 6:53 amI say bypass Congress and issue an Executive Order.
June 18th, 2008 at 8:34 amThe prez may just be a shrewd dude. With everything looking like a disaster for the GOP this November he may have hit the Kommiecrats right in the heart. Ooops, Kommiecrats have no heart.
The Ks are stuck with their raticals & may have to continue being stupid on the gas situation. A cold fall will roast some of them…
June 18th, 2008 at 8:46 amSaying that that some oil from ANWR or offshore may be exported or it wont lower gas prices is a very stupid reason for not drilling there! Take an class in economics. If we export a million barrels from ANWR and import a million barrels from somewhere else, it costs us nothing. If we import a million barrels and export none it costs us 140 million dollars! Research and development of alternative energy sources is great and we should do that, but as long as we are useing more oil than we are producing we need to drill as much as possible. If we end up with more oil than we need we can sell it to China to pay for all our imported lead painted toys!
August 19th, 2008 at 9:50 am