House passes offshore drilling bill

Republicans call the Democratic plan a political sham. The measure's fate is unclear in the Senate.

By CARL HULSE, New York Times

Last update: September 17, 2008 - 12:07 AM

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WASHINGTON - The House on Tuesday night approved a bill 236-189 that would ease a longstanding ban on offshore oil drilling and try to spur greater use of alternative fuels as Democrats and Republicans engaged in a bitter clash over America's energy future.

Under legislation assembled by Democrats after weeks of assaults by Republicans over offshore exploration, oil companies would lose some tax benefits, utilities would be required to produce 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020 and a ban on developing fuel from Rocky Mountain shale would be lifted.

The legislation, which faces significant hurdles to becoming law before Congress breaks at the end of the month, would allow drilling as close as 50 miles from the coastline where adjacent states agree and 100 miles out no matter a state's position.

It also would impose stricter oversight on the federal agency that handles oil leasing and royalty payments after recent disclosures of improper relationships between its employees and oil industry representatives.

Republicans, who have recorded some political gains by portraying Democrats as flatly opposed to new oil drilling, said the measure was a sham intended to provide Democrats political cover from voters furious over high gas prices. They faulted it for failing to include new incentives for coal and nuclear power and for not limiting environmental lawsuits against drilling proposals. They also criticized Democrats for not negotiating with Republicans in writing the bill.

"We are engaged in exactly what the American people are sick of, and that is political games here in Washington that are intended to be political games and have no outcome," said Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the Republican leader.

Although Republicans derided the measure, saying it kept too much of the Outer Continental Shelf and the underlying reserves off limits to drilling, the decision to entertain expanded offshore drilling was a stark reversal in policy for Democrats, who have supported a coastal drilling ban since 1982. Democrats were motivated both by the Republican attacks and by the reality that keeping the stricter ban would be unrealistic this year. Relaxing the moratorium became the party's fallback position.

Democrats said Republicans were left frustrated by the measure because it robbed them of a chief line of political attack in allowing Democrats to vote for new drilling in conjunction with clean-energy initiatives.

"This is a classic case where in the interests of doing good politics, we also did good policy," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.

But Republicans called the entire exercise political, saying Democrats were willing to consider new offshore drilling only because they were certain the bill would not become law.

"It is a Peter Pan story," said Rep. Don Young, of Alaska, who led the Republican opposition to the measure. "It is a figment of the imagination. It is a political gimmick."

The outlook for the measure is uncertain with only two weeks remaining before Congress is set to break until at least the November elections and perhaps until next year. The Senate is preparing to take up a similar bill that would allow some new offshore drilling but differs in other important respects. Even if the Senate averts a filibuster, it seems unlikely that the measures could be reconciled before the break.

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