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Democrat Committee Kills Off Shore Drilling Bill
AoS note: when a blogger like Malkin cites a news item and then blogs about it, provide us with the news link, not the blogger's.
WASHINGTON - A House subcommittee killed a proposal to open up the nation's coastlines to offshore drilling for oil and natural gas Wednesday. But House Republicans who pushed the proposal vowed to continue their fight, saying the public is behind them as the average price of gasoline now tops $4 a gallon.

On a party-line vote, the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees public lands voted 9 to 6 against the drilling plan.

The proposal by Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., would allow for drilling between 50 miles and 200 miles of the nation's coastlines. Peterson, who is retiring next year, said offshore drilling could provide enough oil to replace Middle East oil imports for 35 years. He said the plan would also yield an 18-year supply of natural gas.

A 27-year-old federal moratorium has prevented offshore drilling in most coastal waters except parts of the Gulf of Mexico.

Virginia lawmakers have expressed interest in pursuing drilling, particularly for natural gas.

"There is no valid reason for Congress to continue keeping Americans from the offshore resources they own," Peterson said.

But Democrats, who control Congress, said offshore drilling would have no immediate effect on the price of gasoline and would do little to lower the world price of oil. "We are kidding ourselves, as we routinely do in this town, if we think we can drill our way out of this problem," said Rep. Dave Obey, D-Wis.
If we'd started drilling 20 years ago you might be saying something different today. The Brits and Norweigans started drilling the North Sea even though it was estimated not to be enough to replace their other imports. Today they're glad they did.
Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., the subcommittee chairman, cited estimates from the Minerals Management Service — an arm of the U.S. Interior Department — ;that found 82 percent of the known offshore reserves of natural gas and 79 percent of the known reserves for oil are in areas already fully open for drilling.
Open the other areas and you'll have new estimates soon enough from the new exploration.
But Republicans vowed to continue their fight, saying growing public anger at the rising price of gasoline will require Congress to boost domestic energy production. "The American people are going to have a lot to say about this," said Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., the ranking Republican on the full House Appropriations Committee. "We're going to be literally forced as a body to rethink our preconceived notions."

Republicans may get another shot at offshore drilling as early as next week, when the spending bill funding the Interior Department goes to the full Appropriations Committee. "This is going to end up being an energy bill whether we like it or not," Lewis said.

But so far, offshore drilling has triggered a partisan response in Congress, with Democrats lined up squarely against it.
Posted by: Wheremp Grinegum2764 2008-06-12
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=241504