Hoyer says no to new offshore drilling bans

Washington Times:

A top House Democrat on Tuesday said his party will not push to reinstate a ban on offshore oil and natural-gas drilling next year.

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland said there will be serious discussion as to the "parameters" to which offshore drilling will be pursued, but Democrats will not try to backtrack after grudgingly giving in to Republican demands to allow the 26-year ban to expire this fall.

"I don't think there is any intent at this point in time ... to return to the same position we were in" before the ban was lifted, Mr. Hoyer told a gathering of reporters Tuesday at the National Press Club in Washington.

The congressional drilling moratorium was first enacted in 1982 and had been renewed annually until Democrats decided in late September not to seek another extension. At the time, they said they would work with the new White House administration to reinstate the ban soon after the new Congress convenes in January.

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A top Republican aide said Mr. Hoyer's comments were good news, but that ending the moratorium was "only the beginning, not the end, of our efforts to enact an 'all of the above' energy strategy." Nuclear power, "clean coal" and alternative fuel sources such as biofuels and wind and solar power must be developed in concert with increased drilling, said Michael Steel, a spokesman with House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican.

"The fact remains that we are transferring $700 billion from America to countries overseas and companies overseas every year, and that's not a good idea from a national security standpoint or an economic standpoint, and that hasn't changed," Mr. Steel said.

The American Petroleum Institute (API), the main U.S. trade association for the oil and natural-gas industry, said it was encouraged by Mr. Hoyer's words, but also cautioned Democrats against tweaking the rules governing offshore drilling.

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It could be that Democrats expect Obama to reimpose the ban with an executive order. There have been hints that one of his first acts will be to reverse the Bush lifting of the executive ban on drilling offshore. This is an issue where the Republicans were a very effective minority in the run up to the election and no doubt they would be all over any "change" back to the failed policies of the past.