House Republican group backs Senate drilling bill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A group of Republican lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday said the House should abandon its broad legislation to expand offshore drilling, giving a boost to a much narrower Senate drilling bill that could pass in Congress’ lame duck session.

The Senate has approved a bill to open a small area near the Alabama-Florida offshore border in the Gulf of Mexico to oil and natural gas drilling, while the House cleared more wide-sweeping legislation that allows drilling in most U.S. Atlantic and Pacific coastal waters more than 100 miles from shore. Currently, energy exploration there is banned.

Senate and House Republican leaders have so far been unsuccessful in reconciling their differences to pass a final drilling bill before Democrats take majority control of the Congress next January. Lawmakers return in December for a short lame duck session to finish work on remaining important bills.

Senate leaders have already told their counterparts in the House that they should pass the Senate’s drilling bill, because the House legislation is too expansive and controversial to clear both chambers.

Reuters