by Richard Morrison
September 16, 2008

Washington, D.C., September 16, 2008—Today the House of Representatives is debating a bill to change the federal rules on oil and gas exploration off of the nation’s coastline. Pressured all summer by increasing voter anger over high energy prices, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has presented today’s bill as a compromise between pro-and anti-drilling forces. The content of the bill, however, delivers only a tiny increase in domestic energy production while dramatically expanding other restrictions.

“Anyone who believes this is a pro-drilling bill is fooling themselves,” said Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Iain Murray. “It allows a tiny amount of drilling while pushing forward all the fever dreams of the anti-energy environmentalist movement. This is not a compromise.  It is a sell-out to the anti-energy zealots.”

In enacted, the Pelosi bill would:

· Permanently ban access to about 97 percent of the undersea oil lying within 50 miles of the California coast.

· Continue the ban on energy production in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico.

· Impose a brand-new ban on oil and gas leases in Alaska’s coastal waters out to 50 miles.

· Not allow states that approve new leases beyond 50 miles to share royalties with the federal government, thus stripping any financial incentive for states to stand up to environmental pressure groups, who will continue to agitate against any new oil and gas operations offshore.

“If I didn't know better, I'd think this bill was written by OPEC, since it is designed to prevent U.S. energy companies from competing with Persian Gulf oil producers,” said CEI Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis.

 

Energy Experts Available for Interviews
Marlo Lewis, Ph.D. Senior Fellow 202-669-6693 mlewis@cei.org	Iain Murray Senior Fellow 202-331-2257 imurray@cei.org
Myron Ebell Director of Energy Policy 202-320-6685 mebell@cei.org	William Yeatman Energy Policy Analyst 202-331-2270 wyeatman@cei.org

CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government.  For more information about CEI, please visit our website at www.cei.org.