In a much ballyhooed 236-189 vote, the House of Representatives passed its drill-nothing legislation, which, amongst other evils, permanently seals off the first 50 miles off the coast of the U.S. from any drilling. At all.
On balance, the House, and Congress for that matter, is better off doing nothing.
Despite being labeled a state opt-in bill, the several states couldn’t drill those first 50 miles if they wanted to under this bill. But it gets worse.
There was no new nuclear. No oil shale. No clean coal or coal-to-liquid. No new gasoline refineries. No new drilling in Alaska. No green lawsuit reform. And despite being labeled a “compromise”, it had no Republican input: No amendments were allowed.
Representative Doc Hastings (R-WA) said in floor debate, “This straw-fig leaf bill was written in secret,” to make the point that the Democrat majority was grasping at straws and that the bill was a fig leaf. The bill was only introduced late Monday night, with the vote yesterday. Prior to its introduction, no Republican was even allowed to see it. Some “compromise”!
There was a stream of defections in both parties, with 15 Republicans actually voting in favor of the bill, and 13 Democrats against. Those Democrats who voted “Nay” deserve praise for breaking with Madame No, and those treacherous Republicans scorn for standing in favor of a bill that has no chance of becoming law anyway.
This is only the beginning of the fight on energy for the remainder of this session, however. Despite voting for a bill designed as political cover for vulnerable members on both sides to say they voted in favor of “increased” drilling, the issue now moves to the Senate, where the House proposal—which has no provisions for revenue sharing with coastal states—has been declared by Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) to be “dead on arrival.”
On balance, ALG hopes that Senators will realize that they are better off simply doing nothing, for on October 1st, the moratoria on off-shore oil and natural gas drilling, as well as oil shale exploration, will expire. But even if that fails, any reauthorization of said moratoria will require President Bush’s signature to become law.
ALG News will keep you apprised of how the ongoing energy debate in Washington winds up as the attention now moves to the Senate.
