Senate approves more offshore drilling

updated 7:05 p.m. ET Aug. 1, 2006

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Tuesday to open 8.3 million acres of federal waters in the central Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling, setting up a confrontation with the House, which wants even more drilling in waters now off-limits.

Supporters said the measure would be a major step toward producing more domestic energy and forcing down natural gas prices that have soared in recent years.

The Senate approved the measure by a vote of 71-25. It now must be reconciled with much broader drilling legislation passed by the House in June. Those negotiations are likely to begin in September.

“This bill will substantially reduce our reliance on foreign oil and gas. ... It brings more American energy to American consumers,” declared Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.

Likewise, Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., called the legislation “welcome news for the people of the United States” — for homeowners facing high heating bills as well as for manufacturers and chemical companies that have seen natural gas costs soar.

Opponents seek more drilling
Some critics of the legislation noted that it will be years before any oil or gas will be taken from the 8.3 million acres and that the legislation falls short of addressing many of the country’s energy problems.

At best “this will supply a small amount of gas years from now,” said Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., who decried the inability to broaden the legislation beyond drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

Still, the bill attracted wide, bipartisan support as lawmakers sought to show the flag on energy as they prepared to leave for the monthlong summer recess. The House is already gone.

Some senators noted that natural gas prices jumped by 11 percent this week amid concern about supplies because of the intense summer heat. The price was at more than $8 per thousand cubic feet on the spot market, compared to under $6 a few weeks ago.

Despite the solid Senate vote, the bill’s prospect of clearing Congress remains uncertain.

The House-passed bill would allow energy companies access to waters far beyond the central Gulf and lift the quarter-century-old drilling moratorium on Outer Continental Shelf waters on both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, while allowing states to decide whether to continue the drilling bans.

House leaders have said they are eager to negotiate a compromise bill, once the Senate acts.

‘Zone of protection’
Senate Democrats and GOP moderates say such a broad bill would threaten areas that have long opposed energy developing, from New England to California and the Pacific Northwest. Senate leaders say it would spark a filibuster and probably lead to no offshore drilling legislation emerging from Congress this year.

The 8.3 million acres affected by the Senate measure is believed to contain 1.2 billion barrels of oil and nearly 6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, enough to heat 6 million homes for 15 years.

The bill would create a “zone of protection” for Florida that would stretch 125 to 300 miles from the state’s beaches at various points. It also would funnel tens of millions of additional dollars to the four other Gulf coast states as their share of future oil and gas revenues.

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