House Passes Bill To Expand Drilling, Fund Renewables

[thewall77]

Source: Washington Post

By Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 17, 2008; Page A10

The House approved a package of energy initiatives yesterday, including measures that would allow oil drilling as close as 50 miles off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and finance the long-term development of alternative energy sources.

In the first substantive votes since gas prices rose above $4 a gallon this summer, the House divided largely along party lines, 236 to 189, with most Republicans rejecting the Democratic-sponsored legislation because it would prohibit exploration of much of the known oil reserves closer to the coasts and in the Gulf of Mexico.

As they reversed their long-held opposition to more offshore oil exploration, Democrats said the increased taxes on oil companies in the bill and the collection of royalty payments from the drilling would yield billions of dollars to help finance the development of cleaner, renewable energy sources.

"We're not trying to give incentives to drill, we're giving incentives to invest in renewables and natural gas that will take us where we need to go," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters before the vote.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/16/AR2008091601216.html?hpid=topnews

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Republicans are whining because drilling would be limited.

[sakabatou]

1. Awww, are the wittle wepubwicans whining cuz the can't weck the pwanet?

[jkshaw]

2. Louise Slaughter on Rachel Maddow

said she'd bet anything no off shore drilling will ever occur. For one thing the oil companies don't even want it, they have plenty of dry land, leased land, the paperwork ready to go, if they want to drill.

Incidentally, that was the first time I ever saw or heard Louise Slaughter. She's great, funny, incisive. I really, really liked her.

[iamjoy]

3. It Had To Be Done

I'm not thrilled with more drilling, but I recognized that some compromise was needed. It's obvious the Republicans want to use this as a political issue. Otherwise, even if they didn't think this went far enough, they would have voted for it and then kept pushing for closer drilling.

What scares me is this

If Congress does not act on the measures by Sept. 30, the current ban on offshore oil drilling will expire, and exploration will be allowed as close as three miles off all U.S. coastlines.


That makes me think maybe they don't want to use the drilling issue as a political bludgeon. Maybe they know Dubya will veto the measure, the existing ban will expire and their friends will set up platforms in view of our beaches.

[firedupdem]

4. Rachel seemed to think they caved under pressure in voting

to let this bill pass.

[iamjoy]

5. Dupe

self delete

[struggle4progress]

6. House votes to allow limited offshore drilling

Zachary Coile, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
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(09-17) 04:00 PDT Washington --

... The bill faces a very uncertain future. The Senate is set to take up three separate energy bills, which differ sharply from the House measure. The White House issued a veto threat Tuesday, saying the House bill "purports to open access to American energy sources while in reality taking actions to stifle development."

Senate Republicans may choose to block action on any energy bill and allow the moratorium to expire on Sept. 30. If the drilling ban lapses, the Bush administration could begin the process of preparing oil and gas lease sales in new areas as close as 3 miles offshore ...

The bill includes other elements opposed by the White House, including a requirement that the administration release 10 percent of the oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and replace it with heavier, cheaper oil. It also would lift the federal ban on oil shale development, which expires Sept. 30, but allow the states of Utah, Colorado and Wyoming to decide whether to extract the energy in oil shale.

The House bill disappointed many environmentalists and some Democrats, who said it bolstered the GOP's claim that drilling could help bring down gas prices. The U.S. Energy Information Administration has concluded that lifting the moratorium would have no short-term impact on gas prices and an "insignificant" effect by 2030 ...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/16/MNF312V0AK.DTL

[moose65]

7. This COULD work to our advantage

Remember, in politics, if you have to explain your position in detailed, nuanced terms, you have already LOST. To the Republicans who said 'drill baby drill,' the Dems can respond "we passed a bill allowing drilling." The Repubs will have to go into a long explanation and the low-info voters quickly lose interest. And I think Louise Slaughter is right: they WON'T drill. The companies already have some offshore leases that they are just sitting on.