Democrats To Offer Bill With Plan For More Offshore Drilling

WASHINGTON — Democrats' stance against offshore drilling has shifted more, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi signaling on Saturday her willingness to consider opening up more coastal areas to oil and gas exploration.

In her party's weekly radio address, Pelosi said opening portions of the Outer Continental Shelf for drilling would be a part of energy legislation that House Democrats intend to put forward in the coming weeks to address oil dependence and high gasoline prices.

Lawmakers will be able to "consider opening portions of the Outer Continental Shelf for drilling, with appropriate safeguards, and without taxpayer subsidies to Big Oil," said Pelosi, D-Calif.

Just weeks ago Pelosi seemed resolved to block any votes to allow offshore drilling, in part because Californians have opposed drilling off their coasts since an oil spill off Santa Barbara in 1969. New oil drilling is only allowed now in federal waters in the western Gulf of Mexico and off Alaska.

Pelosi's radio remarks were the latest to hint that the energy debate in Congress is still evolving, and that Democrats are budging on the issue.

Congress left for the August recess deadlocked over how to address $4-a-gallon gasoline. Democratic proposals to tap the nation's petroleum reserve, curb oil speculation and force oil companies to drill on already leased federal lands were blocked by Republicans trying to force votes on offshore drilling.

Yet any vote on drilling is likely to force the Republicans' hand, since it will likely be packaged with unpopular proposals to tap the petroleum reserve and recoup unpaid royalties from the late 1990s to pay for renewable energy projects.

"This comprehensive Democratic approach will ensure energy independence which is essential to our national security, will create millions of good paying jobs here at home in a new green economy, and will take major steps forward in addressing the global climate crisis," said Pelosi, who criticized Republicans' "drill only" plan.

Republican leaders called Pelosi's proposal a ruse.

She "is deliberately misrepresenting the facts about our plan in order to shift attention away from the Democrats' shameful record," said House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio. "Her new effort appears to be just another flawed plan that will do little to lower gas prices." Boehner and more than 100 House Republicans refused to depart for the summer recess in protest of Democrats' refusal to have a vote on their proposals.

The pressure to expand offshore drilling intensified last month when President Bush lifted an executive prohibition on drilling for oil and gas on the Outer Continental Shelf. A congressional ban remains in place.

Polls have shown that voters have grown more supportive of more domestic oil production as fuel prices have climbed.

Comments

[LucieLee]

The Democrats are capitulating once again!! Whatever happened to "If you don't use it you lose it?" referring to the 65 million acres already leased? Hang tough Pelosi.......I'm beginning to think the Democrats aren't the leaders they pretend to be...sadly!!! *crying*!!!!

[heal57]

Right; no more drilling. It's false. It won't help. We know what we have to do. We are going to buy a generator cause the next few years are going to be iffy in the electric/h­eating/coo­ling markets. Slowly, solar will start to become more predominant; at least out here in Arizona; Obama country.

[Huffingtonposter231]

Global Cooling Has Arrived. Keep using those energy saver bulbs folks, it looks as if you have saved the planet from disaster! http://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com/2008/02/19/january-2008-4-sources-say-globally-cooler-in-the-past-12-months/

US had the most snow cover in 50 years. The planet is cooling. I say Mother Nature is anticipating Obama as president and his carbon tax to save the world and is thus cooling down in anticipation of planet saving rules and taxes.

We are saved! All hail the carbon tax....and the taxes on the evil big American energy companies. Another reason the planet is cooling off no doubt!

The "Man Made Carbon Disaster Religion" is falling apart at the seams.

[msmaggie]

New to interpreting data are ya?

[BlackbirdHighway]

"US had the most snow cover in 50 years". One problem there. It's not called US warming, it's called GLOBAL warming. The US is not the entire globe. When you actually look at the data for the entire globe:

"The year 2007 tied for second warmest in the period of instrumental data, behind the record warmth of 2005, in the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) analysis. 2007 tied 1998, which had leapt a remarkable 0.2°C above the prior record with the help of the "El Niño of the century". The unusual warmth in 2007 is noteworthy because it occurs at a time when solar irradiance is at a minimum and the equatorial Pacific Ocean is in the cool phase of its natural El Niño-La Niña cycle."

http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/2007/

Conclusion: your posting is totally false.

[Mildmannered]

I hear that there is a shortage of drilling rigs (does anyone have a news cite?) so this is really a non-issue

[Huffingtonposter231]

A shortage of rigs does not mean they do not exist. Your logic is extremely flawed.

[repubstheirownworstenemy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/19/business/19drillship.html

Yes. There's a shortage of rigs and ships. Which is part of the reason steel has gone up 40% since January.

[Mildmannered]

Good cite.

[TN]

Legislation that does not fix the enron loophole and put rules on energy speculation, all engery, wind, solar will result in the same rip offs. Nancy knows this and so does barack lets see who they are really for.

[TommyBobama]

What is the "enron loophole"?

[CocteausTwin]

These people just love Bush and his friends.

[Trolmaster]

Alternative energy is the answer. We can invest in weapons systems in the name of national defense, this should be looked at in the same manner. And government investment is the key. If the private sector was the answer, they would have done way more to fix this problem long ago.

And of course the oil industry would hate to see more electric cars and cars that can get 80 miles a gallon, that's why you don't see their Republican lackeys do more about this.

[darthdarcy]

Or we can just start WWIII over Caspian Oil...!

[curocat]

It could happen. Chevron Texaco pipeline across Georgia...

[pbfishtaco]

10,000 leases on 68 million acres, but not the "right" leases in the "right" places.
We need to give the oil companies permission to drill ANYWHERE, ANYTIME.
It's the American Way.

Feel better, Beltway Barbeque Crowd?

I'm feeling safer and happier already.

[darthdarcy]

The reason for Oil doubling in one year is the speculation and criminal manipulation of the Commodities and Futures market here and in London and Dubai..if you want to lower the Gas and Oil prices you have to once again tightly regulate these markets...!

The Republicans caused this crisis, now they're lying to misguide simpletons that are their base...

Here's a good article that explains it all in detail...

http://www.star-telegram/ed_wallace/story/659081.html

Nancy Pelosi is just pandering to the vast ignorant multitude...it's pathetic...!

[Guynemer]

The Republicans caused the "criminal manipulation of the Commodities and Futures Market...in London and Dubai"?

How so?

And, exactly what has this got to do with the fact that we import 12 Billion Barrels of oil and export $700 billion every year?

[darthdarcy]

That's a bad link here it is an article that explains the rise on Oil and gas prices...

http://www.star-telegram.com/ed_wallace/story/659081.html

Drilling will not help lower the prices, Regulation of the Commodities and Futures Markets will...

[Wistful]

Nancy Pelosi should be impeached because there couldn't be a worse speaker for the House, she and Reid suck, suck, suck. They're an embarrassment to any progressive who doens't want to vote for the fascist party. They provide not alternative. Now that I think about it, the braindead Democratic Party sucks.
They provide no leadership or smarts, it's just part of being a Democrat.

[sf94127]

The Dems are do nothing on this matter. There is no urgency from Pelosi; she is playing the gatekeeper.

[Podewumun]

Where's my bloody comment?

[Wistful]

I wonder the same thing about my own comments. No other website, Slate, Washington Post or Politico censors posters comments.
Better not to read the HuffPo and then not want to comment here, it's so back into the stone age.

[TheHandyman]

How interesting. The Demowon'ts point out that even if drilling were to begin tomorrow, which it won't, that it would not have any effect on the price of oil for, at the earliest, 10 years. The amount? 3 cents or less per gallon! But pandering to Americans who are so desparete for cheap gasoline for their gas guzzling behemoths, even the Dems are willing to reverse course and offer something that is only slightly less than the Repugs.

All this oil belongs to the People. The oil Corporations were supposed to pay the People for the Oil. Instead, the crooks in Washington gave it to them. Chavez takes the oil away from the oil companies because he saw that letting big oil get rich while the People did not get fair market value was the right thing to do. Americans think he is an ass. He took all the extra money and poured it into a national health plan and the educational system. Americans have watched their health and education decline while big oil pays the People nothing and the politicians lots so they can get re-elected so they can give away more of America. Would you let someone come in to your home and sell of everything and pocket the money?

[sf94127]

Yo, homes, crude oil is down around 25% the past 4 weeks and strong conviction on our parts to reduce oil imports would reduce it further and that is now, not 10 years from now.

[separatingwheatfromchaff]

Why haven't we heard an answer regarding all those millions of acres the oil companies have already leased,with proven reserves, without doing any drilling?.I'm serious,why don't we get an answer from the people that have been robbing us blind?

[Swerinjer]

Karl Rove is tickled pink that all of you progressives are so easily manipulated into tearing down Nancy Pelosi and undermining her effectiveness. Its as if everything the repugs have done over the last 8 years is her fault.

I'm not gullible. I refuse to tear Nancy Pelosi down. I blame repugs for her not being able to repair the Bush damage. And the media. And the crooked justice department. And the crooked supreme Court. And the red democrats. Anyone but Nancy. She's doing a GREAT job IMO.

[Destin]

You got it wrong. Nobody is blaming Nancy for the past 8 years. And I can only speak for myself when I say this.... what I blame Nancy for is... now that she's in a position of power to do something about it, she refuses to do anything about the lawlessness of the past 8 years. So she might as well just step aside and let someone else in there who has something called courage. ;)

[Swerinjer]

she is not in a position to do anything for all the reasons I divulged in my previous utterance.

[sdskelton03]

Albeit for the wrong reason, she is doing the right thing for the country.

Drilling alone isn't a solution, but neither is nuclear power, wind farms, inflating our tires, solar power, electric cars et al.

We need to do all of it. We need to increase oil supply while working on better fuel economy and alternative energy sources.

This silly debate is like a bunch of fat people arguing over whether they should eat better or exercise more.