Oil chiefs urge offshore drilling

WASHINGTON

Committee Chairman Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., said he’s not opposed to offshore drilling, but was holding the hearings to learn more about “the trade-offs that would be involved” if more coastal waters were opened to oil and gas companies.

Congress last October ended the long-standing ban on drilling in about 85 percent of the country’s coastal waters, from New England to the Pacific Northwest. Environmentalists have called for the ban to be re-imposed.