Bush calls on Congress to lift oil drilling ban
White House also wants plan to develop oil shale, speed refinery permitting
MSNBC staff and news service reports
updated 4:02 p.m. ET, Mon., July. 14, 2008
msnbc.msn.com
WASHINGTON - Putting pressure on congressional Democrats to back more exploration for oil, President Bush on Monday promised to lift an executive ban on offshore drilling that his stood since his father was president.
But the move, by itself, will do nothing unless Congress acts as well to lift its own drilling ban. There are two prohibitions on offshore drilling, one imposed by Congress and another by executive order signed by the first President Bush in 1990.
“When Congress lifts the legislative ban, I will lift the executive prohibition,” Bush said in a statement in the Rose Garden.
The president, trying to ease market tensions and boost supply, called last month for Congress to lift its prohibition before he did so himself.
"The only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil resources is action from the U.S. Congress," Bush said. "Now the ball is squarely in Congress' court."
Bush criticized Congress for failing to lift its own ban on offshore drilling.
"For years, my administration has been calling on Congress to expand domestic oil production," Bush said. "Unfortunately, Democrats on Capitol Hill have rejected virtually every proposal. And now Americans are paying at the pump."
The issue of offshore drilling has been debated by Congress in each of several rounds of deliberation over national energy policy, which culminated in passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Congressional Democrats, joined by some GOP lawmakers from coastal states, have opposed lifting the prohibition that has barred energy companies from waters along both the East and West coasts and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. A succession of presidents, from Bush's father -- George H.W. Bush -- to Bill Clinton, have sided against drilling in these waters, as has Congress each year for 27 years. Their goal has to been to protect beaches and coastal states' tourism economies.
But since oil prices have surged above $140 a barrel in recent months, the White House believes that the political mood may have shifted since Congress last took up the idea of lifting the drilling ban. A poll last month by the Pew Research Center found that 47 percent of respondents said energy exploration and drilling were a top priority – up from 35 percent in February. Other polls have also found increased popular support for expanded drilling since oil prices have surged.
The bid for expanded drilling has also gained momentum last month when the governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, said that states should be allowed to decide for themselves whether to permit drilling in their coastal waters. Offshore drilling had been opposed by his predecessor, former Gov. Jeb Bush, the president’s brother. |
