Senate Approves Bill to Expand Oil, Gas Drilling

Gulf States Would Get Share of Royalties

The Senate approved yesterday a bill that would open more than 8 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling, but it must be reconciled with a vastly more permissive House measure that would end a 25-year-old moratorium on drilling off the nation’s Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

The bill passed 71 to 25 with the help of Gulf Coast senators whose states would receive a big share of the federal royalties on new production, and with the support of Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) and other Democrats who are seeking to do something in response to high energy prices.

“Now, more than ever, America needs American energy,” said Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.). He said the bill would substantially reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil and gas.

But many lawmakers complained that, under the bill, four coastal states — Louisiana, Texas, Alabama and Mississippi — would receive revenue that belongs to the entire nation, and that Congress should not open more of the Outer Continental Shelf to drilling without taking action to increase energy efficiency. Republican leaders blocked an effort to attach an amendment to the bill that would have gradually raised U.S. automobile fuel economy standards.

Washington Post