Democrats try to spur more oil exploration

Carolyn Hileman - The Voice* | July 17, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) - Seeking to blunt GOP efforts to permit oil exploration off Atlantic and Pacific coasts, House Democrats are pushing legislation they say would spur oil drilling on already available lands in Alaska, the West and the western Gulf of Mexico.

Republicans scoffed that the so-called Drill Act - imposing a tougher “use it or lose it” rule on leases already held by oil companies - would do little to boost oil exploration, saying current policies are aimed at the same goal. A vote was set for Thursday.

On the eve of the vote, the Interior Department issued a major new lease in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve, known as NPR-A. The Democratic bill would require a more active Interior Department leasing program on the reserve, which is located to the west of the off-limits Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, the subject of a long-standing battle between environmentalists and the oil lobby.

“Democrats brought forth their ‘Use It or Lose It’ bill without knowing it was already the law of the land,” said GOP Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo. “Today we’re reminded that the majority’s efforts to ‘unlock’ NPR-A are about as necessary as passing a bill ordering the sun to rise.”

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