Bush will again urge Congress to lift ban on drilling off US coastline

Washington: For a quarter-century, drilling for oil and gas off nearly all the American coastline has been banned in part to protect tourism and to lessen the chances of spills.

Then gasoline prices topped $4 a gallon this summer. Drivers and others began clamouring for federal lawmakers to do something about the record price of oil, much of it produced in foreign countries.

In response, President George W. Bush is renewing his call to open US coastal waters to oil and gas development, arguing that it is high time to battle high prices with increased domestic production. He was planning to ask Congress yesterday to lift the drilling moratoria that have been in effect since 1981 in more than 80 per cent of the country's Outer Continental Shelf and to let states help to decide where to allow drilling.

"The president believes Congress shouldn't waste any more time," White House press secretary Dana Perino said. "He will explicitly call on Congress to... pass legislation lifting the congressional ban on safe, environmentally friendly offshore oil drilling."

For their part, lawmakers have their own plan: Legislation that would continue the ban into late 2009 was scheduled to be considered yesterday by the House Appropriations Committee.

Congressional Demo-crats, joined by some Republican lawmakers from coastal states, have opposed lifting the prohibition that has barred energy companies from waters along both the East and West coasts and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico for 27 years.

On Monday, Republican presidential candidate Sen John McCain made lifting the federal ban on offshore oil and gas development a key part of his energy plan. McCain said states should be allowed to pursue energy exploration in waters near their coasts and get some of the royalty revenue.