Earth Equity News

Democrats Let Offshore Drilling Ban Expire, Lend $25 Billion to Failing U.S. Auto Companies. By Andrew Taylor, AP, September 23, 2008. "Democrats have decided to allow a quarter-century ban on drilling for oil off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts expire next week, conceding defeat in a months-long battle with the White House and Republicans... House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., told reporters Tuesday that a provision continuing the moratorium will be dropped this year from a stop-gap spending bill... Republicans have made lifting the ban a key campaign issue... President Bush lifted an executive ban on offshore drilling in July... Democrats had clung to the hope of only a partial repeal of the drilling moratorium, but the White House had promised a veto, Obey said. The House is expected to act on the spending bill Wednesday. The Senate is likely to go along with the House. 'The White House has made it clear they will not accept anything with a drilling moratorium, and Democrats know we cannot afford to shut down the government over this,' said Jim Manley... for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid... While the ban... will be lifted if the Senate goes along with the House action, it doesn't mean any federal sale of oil and gas leases in the offshore waters -- much less actual drilling -- would be imminent... The congressional battle... is far from over. Democrats are expected to press... next year... [for] limits on any drilling off most of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts... The debate over offshore drilling is not expected to subside in the first months of the next presidency -- no matter who sits in the White House. Lifting the drilling ban gives considerable momentum to the [continuing resolution], which includes the Pentagon budget, $24 billion in aid for flood and hurricane victims and $25 billion in loans for Detroit automakers in addition to keeping the government [running] past the Oct. 1 start of the 2009 budget year."