Oil industry is focusing on offshore sites to boost U.S. production

[question everything]

The Daily Breeze

Friday, April 08, 2005

Oil industry is focusing on offshore sites to boost U.S. production

Coastal plans gathering momentum, proponents say. Foes fear fate of the drilling ban.
By Brad Foss
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Oil and gas companies, closer than ever to drilling in an Alaskan wildlife refuge, want to explore another frontier: America's coastlines.

The Atlantic and Pacific coasts and the eastern Gulf of Mexico are protected by a federal ban on new oil and natural gas extraction.

But with rising worry about the country's dependence on fuel imports and soaring prices, energy producers feel they now have a unique opportunity -- and a more effective strategy -- to relax or eliminate the restrictions.

(snip)

Environmentalists say the industry has been emboldened to seek offshore drilling because of last month's Senate vote to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. They also worry that the public may mistakenly take the 24-year-old offshore ban for granted, if they even know it exists. Proponents of expanding offshore drilling rights do not expect big changes overnight, but they say the idea has recently gained momentum:

- The Bush administration indicated last month that it intends to give the industry access, starting in 2007, to a protected area off the Florida coast that is twice the size of the Arctic refuge and rich in natural gas.
- Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) on Wednesday proposed legislation that would give governors the power to open some or all of their states' offshore lands restricted by federal moratoriums. The proposal comes as Congress seeks to pass a broad energy bill.
- Virginia's general assembly passed a bill last month urging the state's representatives in Congress to push for an exemption from the federal offshore-drilling ban.

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[TahitiNut]

1. La Jolla, Malibu, and Kennebunkport are good sites.

Funny 'bout that ... the rich NEVER allow it in THEIR backyards.

[Mojorabbit]

2. I would hate

to see an oil spill here off the coast of Florida. It isn't worth it. Renewable power is what is needed.