House rejects weakening offshore drilling moratorium
WASHINGTON – A bipartisan coalition of coastal-state lawmakers beat back an effort in the House Thursday to weaken the decades-old ban on new oil and gas drilling offshore, but they are bracing for a potentially tougher battle ahead.
The vote was 262-157 to defeat an effort to exempt new natural gas drilling from the federal moratorium, which covers most coastal waters except for large parts of the Gulf of Mexico.
While environmentalists celebrated their victory, they said they were worried about other efforts in Congress to break through the federal moratorium on new offshore drilling.
Bipartisan efforts are under way in the Senate, for example, to offer billions of dollars to entice financially hurting states to opt out of the moratorium. The bill’s sponsors hope to include the measure in a sweeping overhaul of national energy policy now being drafted in the Senate.
The push to ease the restrictions is being driven by a combination of economic and political factors: Lawmakers are under pressure to do something about high energy prices, and energy industry groups and their congressional allies have been emboldened by the Senate vote earlier this year to open part of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to energy exploration after years of debate.
Richard A. Charter, a longtime drilling foe who is co-chairman of the National Outer Continental Shelf Coalition, an environmental advocacy group, called the House vote “only the beginning” of efforts in Congress to open coastal areas to drilling.
“This is a good time not to take your favorite beach for granted, because it could disappear while you’re there,” he said.
Mark Ferrulo, director of the Florida Public Interest Research Group, added, “This fight is far from over. … We’re not going to sleep until this Congress goes home.”
Industry officials argue that lawmakers should reconsider the moratorium because of high energy prices and U.S. dependence on foreign oil. In addition, they point to new technology they assert has reduced the environmental risk from drilling.
“It’s a new day in the energy business, and those who want to live in the past are only hurting the American consumer,” said Jeff Eshelman of the Independent Petroleum Assn. of America, a trade group for independent oil and gas producers.
Still, the strong bipartisan House vote Thursday underscored the political challenge facing the industry and its congressional allies.
The federal moratorium was put in place in 1982 and has been extended to 2012. Offshore drilling has been a hot topic in California since the 1969 oil spill off Santa Barbara focused national attention on the issue, with dramatic images of oil-soaked birds unable to fly and miles of ocean and beach covered with thick sludge.