Policy & Lobbying

Monday, in a statement made from the White House Rose Garden, President Bush lifted the executive ban on offshore oil drilling that his father put in place when he was president.

Drilling on the outer continental shelf (OCS) is being falsely pitched as a short term, immediate fix to high gas prices, when in fact any resulting leases will not be in production until 2017 and relief at the gas station will be minimal. Most estimates put the price decrease at around four cents per gallon.

Fortunately, our coasts are still protected by a legislative moratorium. Although Big Oil allies in Congress would like to do away with that too. Legislation proposing to lift the moratorium could come in the form of a stand-alone bill or an amendment to any number of land or energy bills.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has introduced an energy bill that would open the OCS to drilling and also gives states the right to reject the sale of leases off their coasts. LCV strongly opposes this bill for many reasons, including that spills or leaks may occur off the coast of one state can easily travel elsewhere by way of wind and ocean currents. It should also be obvious that marine animals, including economically valuable fish species, do not respect state boundaries. Most importantly, the Energy Information Administration predicts that drilling on the OCS will not reach peak production until 2025 and when it does it will account for less than one percent of daily demand in the United States. Protecting our rich coastal ecosystems should take priority over such minimal supply gains.

Republican Senators Stevens and Murkowski of Alaska also plan to introduce language either as a standalone bill or an amendment that would open 1.5 million acres on the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge. LCV also strongly opposes drilling in the Arctic Refuge.

Newt Gingrich is expected to drop off a petition on Capitol Hill this week with around 1.2 million signatures asking Congress, “to lower gas prices by authorizing the exploration of proven energy reserves”. In comparison, Governors of six coastal states, representing 65.8 million constituents, have asked Congress not to lift the OCS moratorium. Gingrich has been leading a campaign entitled “Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less.” This campaign has been funded by Big Oil for Big Oil. For more information see the article, ‘Destroy Here? Destroy Now? Gone Forever?’ at Alaska Wilderness League and follow the link to their fact sheet (www.alaskawild.org).

More drilling is not part of the global warming solution and can only increase our dependence on fossil fuels. While gas prices remain high it is expected that proposals will continue from pro-drilling members of Congress, but LCV is working hard to point out commonsense solutions like releasing oil from the 700 million barrels in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and continue investments in alternative energy sources.