House Republican leaders agree to vote on an offshore drilling bill

[seafan]

House Republican leaders agree to vote on an offshore drilling bill

By Margaret Talev and Lesley Clark
McClatchy Newspapers

Fri, Dec. 01, 2006

WASHINGTON - Congress will attempt to pass legislation next week to allow offshore oil and gas exploration in new portions of the Gulf of Mexico, while barring rigs for at least 125 miles off Florida's Panhandle and for nearly 250 miles off its West Coast.
Conceding that it could be their last opportunity for years to expand any drilling off the nation's coast, House Republicans said Friday they're dropping their objections to a Senate-passed bill they had considered too limited. They'll push to pass it next week before they cede control of Congress to the Democrats.

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The vote is being scheduled for Tuesday. But supporters said it isn't a slam-dunk that they will get the two-thirds vote needed under House rules to pass the bill. That's the only way to guarantee that the legislation can't be amended or sent back to a conference committee with senators, moves that likely would doom its passage before Dec. 8, when both chambers plan to adjourn.

The measure, which the Senate passed last summer, would open 8.3 million additional acres in the Gulf of Mexico, a move that supporters say should increase natural gas supplies.

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Athan Manuel of the Sierra Club called the legislation "one last gasp for Big Oil and their allies in Congress" and predicted that under Democrats' control there would be no further offshore expansion.
Annie Strickland, a spokeswoman for the Sierra Club, said environmentalists plan to ratchet up the opposition, hoping that the bill could be defeated and that Democrats in January will turn their attention to ending oil subsidies and backing research into energy efficiency and alternative fuels.

"After the election and between Thanksgiving and Christmas we figured nothing much was going to happen but it's clear big oil is preparing for one last fight before getting kicked to the curb," Strickland said. "It's a difficult fight but one the conservation community has waged before."

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[Straight Shooter]

1. Little bastids. May they reap threefold what they sow. n/t

[Amonester]

2. Busche still hasn't called his Saudi boyfriend to tell him he...

should open the spigots yet.

http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/04/bushs_ever-chan.php

Yup. Six years. And gas is back up (as predicted...).

But we all knew that, didn't we?

$400 millions to a CEO here, $400 millions to a Sheikh there, and it all adds up in the end, doesn't it... :mad:

And all those species that suddenly start disappearing...

[MadMaddie]

3. If they vote to approve this? When the Dems come into power

can they Bring it back up and revote on it?