US House Rejects Lifting Offshore Drilling Ban
Date: 20-May-05
Country: USA
Author: Tom Doggett
Republican Rep. John Peterson of Pennsylvania failed to add the drilling proposal to a $26.2 billion interior and environmental annual spending bill being debated by the House of Representatives.
Peterson's proposal, defeated in a 156-to-262 vote, would have allowed drilling along the Atlantic Coast, off Florida in the Gulf of Mexico and along the Pacific Coast.
Peterson said lifting the drilling ban was necessary to ease skyrocketing natural gas prices that hurt senior citizens living on fixed incomes and force US companies to relocate overseas where gas is cheaper.
"As long as the door is shut on domestic natural gas production, we will continue to export American jobs, pay higher energy bills, and prop up rogue nations that control the oil and gas spigots of the world," Peterson said.
However, opponents said the plan would violate the rights of states to protect sensitive coastal and marine areas.
"This amendment is bad policy and reflects the misguided attempt to try and drill our way out of energy problems," said Democratic Rep. Lois Capps of California. "It takes only one accident or spill to devastate the local marine environment and economy."
US natural gas production is expected to fall further behind growing demand, especially from new power plants fueled by gas, making the country more dependent on imports.
Natural gas and oil exploration is already allowed in the central and western Gulf of Mexico, off the coasts of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.
The drilling ban for oil would have stayed in place.
Under Peterson's proposal, if an energy company drilling for natural gas happened to find oil the exploratory well would have been capped.
Separately, a proposal to allow oil drilling off the coast of Florida when US oil imports rise above two-thirds of domestic consumption was ruled out of order.
Republican Rep. Ernest Istook of Oklahoma offered the proposal, but House rules prevent changing existing law in an appropriations bill.
Florida opposes drilling off its coast, because it fears an oil spill would hurt its valuable tourism industry.
US oil demand averages about 21 million barrels per day, and imports make up about 58 percent of needed supply.
