Capitol Watch: Drill, Baby, Drill
Friday, October 17, 2008
By: Elizabeth Wright

Government Waste Watch, Fall/Winter 2008

That basically has been the catch phrase during the summer on Capitol Hill. It all started on July 29, right after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) adjourned the U.S. House for a six-week vacation. Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) pulled together several fellow Republicans for a series of short speeches on a variety of issues, called special orders, on the House floor. But Speaker Pelosi turned down the lights, shut off the mikes, and ordered the television cameras to go dark. The Republicans were taken aback but decided to go ahead with their speeches. The first speaker, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.), began with a passionate speech on energy, condemning Speaker Pelosi and leadership for adjourning Congress without completing its work or voting on a bill that would lift the 26-year ban on off-shore drilling. The rest, they say, is history.

Many Republican lawmakers returned to the chamber and participated in the growing protest. Normally citizens are only allowed to sit in the House gallery to watch floor proceedings but in a very unusual and rare move, House Republicans invited the public to participate and brought citizens onto the House floor. Constituents were allowed to sit in members’ chairs and listen to the debates. The protest got the attention of the press, talk radio, and the American public. Many cynics predicted the protest would soon fizzle out but the Republicans carried on, even when the Republican convention in St. Paul, Minnesota was underway.

According to government estimates, there is enough oil in federal lands and off the coasts to power more than 65 million cars for 60 years and enough natural gas to heat 60 million homes for 160 years. Furthermore, the recent hurricanes have proven that off-shore drilling can be done with little environmental impact. With prices hovering around $3.50 per gallon of gas and transportation costs driving up the cost of living, polls show that 62 percent of Americans support more domestic drilling.

When the House Republicans drew attention to Congress’s inaction on the issue, Speaker Pelosi and Democrat Leaders were forced into offering H.R. 6899, the Comprehensive American Energy Security and Consumer Protection Act when they returned from the summer break. Unfortunately, there are many restrictions in the legislation with respect to where drilling can occur, such as only allowing drilling past 100 miles off the coasts or giving states the option to allow drilling beyond 50 miles. According to energy experts, most of the oil and natural gas is much closer to our shores. A real deal killer is the provision that will not allow the states to share in any of the royalties, thus providing no incentive to allow drilling off their coasts. Furthermore, the legislation leaves the Gulf of Mexico and Georges Bank off limits to energy companies. While the legislation passed by a vote of 236 to 189, the bill was declared dead on arrival in the Senate even before the House considered it.

The House Republicans offered their own energy bill, H.R. 6566. This legislation not only lifted the moratorium completely, it encouraged the development of nuclear power, oil shale, coal, and alternative energies. It allowed more refineries to be built by cutting the red tape that has blocked the construction of these much-needed facilities in the United States for more than 30 years. It provided tax incentives to encourage fuel efficient vehicles and homes, and prize money for developing the first economical super-fuel-efficient vehicle. Leadership did not allow a vote on this bill.

Since 1982, the drilling moratorium has been renewed in the Interior Appropriations Act. Because Congress has not yet passed one appropriations bill this year, they had to implement a Continuing Resolution (CR) by September 30, the end of the fiscal year, to keep the government running. The good news is pressure from this hearty band of Republican lawmakers and the public made renewing the ban an act of political suicide. But Speaker Pelosi’s office said, “The future resolution of offshore drilling will have to be addressed with a new president” and David Obey (D-Wis.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee said the moratorium is temporarily lifted and that the “next election will decide what our drilling policy is going to be.” So Americans will not really know where the nation stands with domestic oil and gas production until after November 4.