DEMOCRATS TO LET OFFSHORE DRILLING BAN EXPIRE

[frawin]

Democrats to Let Offshore Drilling Ban Expire


By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: September 23, 2008
Filed at 6:19 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats have decided to allow a quarter-century ban on drilling for oil off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to expire next week, conceding defeat in an month-long battle with the White House and Republicans set off by $4 a gallon gasoline prices this summer.

Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., told reporters Tuesday that a provision continuing the moratorium will be dropped this year from a stopgap spending bill to keep the government running after Congress recesses for the election.

Republicans have made lifting the ban a key campaign after gasoline prices spiked this summer and public opinion turned in favor of more drilling. President Bush lifted an executive ban on offshore drilling in July.

"If true, this capitulation by Democrats following months of Republican pressure is a big victory for Americans struggling with record gasoline prices," said House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio.

Democrats had clung to the hope of only a partial repeal of the drilling moratorium, but the White House had promised a veto, Obey said.

Just last week, the House passed legislation to open waters off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to oil and gas drilling but only 50 or more miles out to sea and only if a state agrees to energy development off its shore.

Republicans called that effort a sham that would have left almost 90 percent of offshore reserves effectively off-limits.

The Interior Department estimates there are 18 billion barrels of recoverable oil beneath coastal waters now off-limits.

Lifting the drilling ban gives considerable momentum to the underlying bill, which includes the Pentagon budget, $24 million in aid for flood and hurricane victims and $25 billion in loans for Detroit automakers in addition to keeping the government open past the Oct. 1 start of the 2009 budget year.

[pam]

Republicans have made lifting the ban a key campaign after gasoline prices spiked this summer and public opinion turned in favor of more drilling. President Bush lifted an executive ban on offshore drilling in July.

Public opinion OUGHT to be turnin in favor of doin somthin different! Oils days are numbered. More drillin isn't gonna fix what's wrong. The provisions in the bill about alternatives are what needs to be concentrated on. It takes what like 2-3-4 years to build an offshore rig? This ain't no qick fix.

And like it or not, the environment IS an important part of our lives. If our water and dirt are dead so are we.

[frawin]

There is no quick fix. Waiting and doing little or nothing is what got us here, OPEC and our enemies ,love the waiting full well knowing we are digging the hole deeper.

[pam]

No duh. Should've thought this out a little better 50 years ago. People started tryin to come up with alternatives back in the 60's and 70's but they were pooh poohed and called stupid hippie commies. Nobody listened or took em up on it and now all of a sudden they are spoutin the same ideas and sayin oh my god we got to do it now..............in case you can't tell I'm a little fed up with the human race this mornin. Stupidity and stubborness is what got us where we are.