Earth Equity News

Timely Compromise Needed on Energy Bill. Posted by Joseph Romm, ClimateProgress, September 15, 2008. "The [Senate's 'Gang-of-10 energy bill, which has now picked up 20 cosponsors, would] swap limited offshore drilling for lots of clean energy... I hope Congressional Dems... vote for the darn thing in droves. The key fact to bear in mind is that the Congressional moratorium on offshore drilling expires at the end of this month! If no compromise deal passes, either as a stand-alone bill or [folded into the] catchall spending bill needed to keep the government going past September 30, then the moratorium ends and 'that would allow drilling within three miles off all coasts,' as the Washington Post explained Sunday. But the [now] Gang-of-20 bill severely limits offshore drilling to a handful of Southeastern states that must opt in and moves the drilling boundary to 100 miles offshore (from its current 200 miles) 'with states given the option to set it at 50 miles'... I am still waiting for someone to explain to me why House Dems couldn't just sign on to the bipartisan Senate proposal... If the House and Senate cannot pass very similar bills before September 30 -- and how could they if the House is pursuing a very different bill than the bipartisan compromise already embraced by 20 Senators -- then the only other way to limit offshore drilling after Sept. 30 is by grafting legislation onto the continuing resolution that will be needed to keep the government funded past the end of the fiscal year. 'Such a decision would dare Bush to veto the legislation and shut down the federal government over the GOP's preferred drilling plan,' [read a September 11 ClimateProgress post]. That might be a good idea -- if the legislation were widely perceived to be balanced and bipartisan, like the Gang-of-20 bill, but maybe not like whatever the House Dems are now pushing. As a friend of mine used to say, we'll burn that bridge when we get to it... [Pelosi's bill,] which has not yet been unveiled... is coming to the floor this week."