Earth Equity News

Senate Set to Take up Controversial Energy Bill. By H. Josef Hebert, AP, September 17, 2008."The [bill passed yesterday in the House to] open waters 50 miles off the Pacific and Atlantic coasts to oil and natural gas development -- if the adjacent states agree to go along… now goes to the Senate, where Democratic leaders are expected to mold it to their liking in the next few days. So far, the Senate has indicated it has no intention of going as far as the House in expanding offshore oil and gas drilling beyond the western Gulf of Mexico, where energy companies have been pumping oil and gas for decades. At least two proposals being crafted in the Senate would allow drilling in some areas along the southern Atlantic from Virginia to Georgia. But the Pacific and remainder of the Atlantic seaboard would not be affected. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid… also has said he would make way for a vote on a broader Republican drilling proposal that would allow states to opt for offshore exploration from New England to the Pacific Northwest and share in the royalties… [Whatever] the proposal [in the Senate], it is expected to face a filibuster and no one has yet to predict with certainty that any drilling bill will garner the 60 votes needed to overcome such a roadblock. The drilling measure passed… by the House is unlikely to survive the Senate."