Free Republic

House Democrats are bypassing renewal of the offshore oil drilling ban by including the entire Pelosi “drill nothing” energy bill in a draft of a Continuing Resolution. HUMAN EVENTS obtained a copy of the most recent House draft CR this morning. The Pelosi bill, HR 6899, fails to open more than a miniscule part of the available offshore drilling areas and -- even worse -- it establishes permanent bans on development of most other domestic energy sources (natural gas, oil shale, etc.) and does nothing to develop nuclear power. It passed the House earlier this month and is now languishing...

When Arizona Sen. John McCain accepted the Republican nomination for president, he vowed to cut America's reliance on foreign oil by opening up the nation's Atlantic and Pacific coasts to drilling—drawing cheers from GOP delegates on hand for his party's national convention. "We will drill new oil wells offshore, and we'll drill them now," McCain pledged to his faithful, who gushed with enthusiastic chants of "drill, baby, drill!" The ultimate goal, the candidate said: to "stop sending $700 billion a year (for oil) to countries that don't like us very much." No one disputes that a lot of oil lies...

It took 4.2 million gallons of oil spewing from a blowout at a rig in the Santa Barbara Channel 40 years ago to ignite the modern conservation movement, trigger new environmental protections and lead to a moratorium on new offshore oil drilling. But the high price of a gallon of gasoline is fueling a change in attitude. Recent national polls indicate that seven out of 10 people support new drilling offshore along the federal outer continental shelf, which extends from three to 200 miles beyond the shore. If costly new exploration in those areas is allowed, oil from those fields...

The House, on a 236-189 vote, on Tuesday approved a bill to allow oil drilling off the nation's Atlantic and Pacific coasts if states agree — but only 50 or more miles out. Republicans called the bill a ruse, saying that's well beyond where most of the estimated 18 billion barrels of oil is located. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the measure marked "a new direction in energy policy" because of its emphasis on alternative energy. The White House threatened a veto, saying the bill doesn't go far enough to generate new domestic supplies of oil and natural gas. The...

Nancy Pelosi’s House of Representatives yesterday passed on a party line vote a drilling bill that effectively allows no drilling. She hates drilling, and this bill was solely an attempt to avoid becoming the Former Speaker of the House. The Senate bills aren’t any better. Wherever the House bill would allow limited drilling, say in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Senate bill would forbid it. The real story is that the Republicans know they are on the winning side of this issue and if they can kill this legislation, the moratorium will expire on September 30, and drilling can...

FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 599(Democrats in roman; Republicans in italic; Independents underlined)       H R 6899      RECORDED VOTE      16-Sep-2008      10:04 PM      QUESTION:  On Passage      BILL TITLE: Comprehensive American Energy Security and Consumer Protection Act Ayes Noes PRES NV Democratic 221 13   1 Republican 15 176   8 Independent         TOTALS 236 189   9 ---- AYES    236 --- AbercrombieAckermanAllenAltmireAndrewsArcuriBacaBairdBaldwinBeanBecerraBerkleyBermanBerryBishop (GA)Bishop (NY)BlumenauerBorenBoswellBoucherBoyd (FL)Boyda (KS)Brady (PA)Braley (IA)Brown, CorrineBuchananButterfieldCapuanoCardozaCarnahanCarneyCarsonCastleCastorChandlerChildersClarkeClayCleaverClyburnCohenConyersCooperCostaCostelloCourtneyCramerCrowleyCuellarCummingsDavis (AL)Davis (CA)Davis (IL)Davis, LincolnDeFazioDeGetteDelahuntDeLauroDicksDingellDoggettDonnellyDoyleEdwards (MD)Edwards (TX)EllisonEllsworthEmanuelEngelEshooEtheridgeFattahFosterFrank (MA)GiffordsGilchrestGillibrandGonzalezGordon Green, AlGreen, GeneGrijalvaGutierrezHall (NY)HareHarmanHastings (FL)HayesHerseth SandlinHigginsHillHincheyHinojosaHironoHodesHoldenHondaHooleyHoyerInglis (SC)InsleeIsraelJackson (IL)Jackson-Lee (TX)JeffersonJohnson (GA)Johnson, E. B.Jones (NC)KagenKanjorskiKapturKennedyKildeeKilpatrickKindKirkKlein (FL)KnollenbergKucinichLaHoodLangevinLarsen (WA)Larson (CT)LeeLevinLewis (GA)LipinskiLoBiondoLoebsackLofgren, ZoeLoweyLynchMahoney (FL)Maloney (NY)MarkeyMathesonMatsuiMcCarthy (NY)McCollum (MN)McDermottMcGovernMcIntyreMcNerneyMcNultyMeek (FL)Meeks (NY)MelanconMichaudMiller (NC)Miller, GeorgeMitchellMollohanMoore (KS)Moore (WI)Moran (VA)Murphy (CT)Murphy,...