Posted: 10/02/2008
Offshore Drilling Ban Ends
Moratorium Lapses in New Continuing Resolution Package
The ban on offshore drilling appears to be over, at least for now.
"This was the most important thing to happen in this otherwise do-nothing Congress this session," said Sterling Burnett, Senior Fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis.
In an under-the-radar action, the continuing resolution package just passed by Congress drops a ban on offshore oil and gas drilling. The ban had covered the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and part of the eastern Gulf of Mexico. However, leasing will remain banned within 125 miles or more of Florida's gulf shores until 2022. The expiration of the bans leaves federal waters, which begin as close as three miles from shores, available for drilling - in some case for the first time since the early 1980s.
"Sadly, because of various environmental laws, it will take the government years to approve new leases. That means that actual oil and gas production along the coasts is still years away," Burnett said.
In addition, the continuing budget resolution continues only until March so what happens after that is unclear, according to Burnett.
"There will be a lot of Congressional maneuvering when the omnibus lapses," Burnett said. "The Democratic leadership has vowed to limit new drilling. I can't wait to see them explain to a skeptical public how they are fighting to reduce prices at the gas pump while they simultaneously attempt to re-impose restrictions on domestic oil production."
The bill, which passed the Senate 78-12, was signed by President Bush on Tuesday.
The National Center for Policy Analysis is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose goal is to solve public policy problems by developing and promoting innovative, market-driven solutions.