Source of this article - Los Angeles Times, August 2, 2006
Measure opens a section in the Gulf of Mexico but must be reconciled with a House version that allows production along the Pacific coast.By Richard Simon and Maura Reynolds, Times Staff Writers
WASHINGTON — With political anxiety on Capitol Hill rising along with gasoline
prices, the Senate voted Tuesday to open a large section of the Gulf of Mexico
to oil and gas drilling, advancing the energy bill that stands the best chance
of approval this year.
|
'We have less than 3% of the oil reserves in the world. The only
way out of our problem is by doing something with alternative energy
and conservation.' |
The bill, approved 71-25, now must be reconciled
with a broader and more controversial House measure that would relax the
decades-long ban on drilling in most coastal waters, including along the Pacific
coast.
Senators from both parties, attuned to constituents' ire over high
fuel costs, were eager to pass energy legislation before heading home for the
summer recess. Eighteen Democrats joined 53 Republicans to support the Senate
bill; 24 Democrats — including California's Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein —
and one independent were opposed.
The Senate bill would limit new
drilling to about 8.3 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico — an area thought to
contain more than 1.2 billion barrels of oil and 5.8 trillion cubic feet of
natural gas. The new drilling, though, would have little effect on overall
energy supplies because the U.S. annually consumes about 7.3 billion barrels of
oil and about 22 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
By contrast, the
House bill would lift, nationwide, the ban on drilling beyond 100 miles off the
coast. It also would enable each coastal state to decide whether to permit
energy exploration within 100 miles of its shore.
In return for opening
their coasts to energy exploration, states would get a share of drilling
royalties — a provision that gained the strong backing of Gulf Coast senators of
both parties. Even so, a large number of coastal-state officials, including
Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, strongly oppose the House
proposal.
The Senate measure is the product of a fragile compromise
worked out by GOP leaders with Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), who dropped his
opposition to drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico in return for a provision
of the bill that would prohibit drilling within 125 miles of the Florida
Panhandle through 2022.
To win the backing of Gulf Coast lawmakers, the
bill would give Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas a bigger chunk of the
royalties from drilling in the newly opened area.
The Bush administration
has expressed support for the Senate bill, calling it important to national
security. Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.), chairman of the Senate Energy and
Natural Resources Committee, predicted that it would be the first step toward
lifting the moratorium on coastal drilling in other parts of the country.
"This is the beginning," Domenici said. "The precedent is going to be
broken here … [and] then we can move step by step to other areas of
American-owned property off other shores, with no damage, and produce our own
natural gas and some of our own crude oil."
Though narrowly focused, the
bill still drew strong opposition from a number of coastal-state senators. They
expressed fear that it would open the door to Republicans on the House-Senate
conference committee to negotiate a more expansive final bill that would relax
the nationwide ban on new offshore drilling.
"I'm worried about the
bill," Feinstein said after the vote. If the House attempts to broaden the
measure beyond the Gulf Coast, she said, "there will be a filibuster for
sure."
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who voted in favor of
the bill because of the funds it would provide for Gulf Coast restoration, has
vowed to lead a bill-killing filibuster unless the House accepts the narrower
Senate measure.
"Sen. Domenici should declare victory and keep quiet,"
Reid said with exasperation. "With the help of the Democrats, his offshore
drilling bill passed…. The Democratic caucus is very clear that there will be no
more offshore drilling."
House leaders, however, weren't ready to accede
to any Senate take-it-or-leave it demand.
"House Republicans strongly
support our bill because we believe it does a better job of providing relief to
working families being hit hard by high gasoline prices," House Speaker J.
Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said in a
joint statement after the Senate vote.
But critics of the Senate bill
said it would provide no immediate relief from high pump prices. And they added
that Congress could do more to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, such as
toughening vehicle miles-per-gallon rules.
"What Republicans need to
understand is we will never be able to produce our way out of the problems we
have by producing in America. We have less than 3% of the oil reserves in the
world," Reid said. "The only way out of our problem is by doing something with
alternative energy and conservation."
But the bill's supporters said it
offered the best opportunity to respond to the public anger over high fuel
costs.
"Huge input to our supply," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist
(R-Tenn.) "It'll affect those gas prices, it'll affect natural gas prices, which
every American is feeling today."
New offshore drilling, which has been
banned in most U.S. coastal waters since the 1980s, has long been a hotly
debated environmental issue — especially in California after a devastating oil
spill off Santa Barbara in 1969. Polls show that a majority of Californians
remain opposed to new drilling.
But pressure to allow new offshore
drilling has been growing, especially from farm and business groups hard hit by
increased fuel costs.
According to AAA, the nationwide average price of
self-serve regular gasoline is $3.01 a gallon, up 72 cents from a year ago, and
is projected to stay "in the vicinity of $3" for much of the rest of the summer.
In a recent USA Today/Gallup Poll, nearly three-fourths of respondents
rated gas prices as extremely important or very important in their vote for
Congress this year.
A number of Democratic candidates are seeking to
portray Republicans as puppets of the oil companies, which have reported
particularly large profits this year. In turn, GOP candidates have assailed
Democrats for blocking measures to increase supplies, including drilling in the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.