Bush: Lift ban on offshore oil drilling

Supply to the U.S. needs to be increased, the president said.

MarketWatch

WASHINGTON — President Bush called for the lifting of a ban on offshore oil drilling Wednesday, touting it as a way to boost U.S. oil production as Americans suffer from high and rising gasoline prices and echoing an identical proposal made Tuesday by Republican presidential contender John McCain.

“For many Americans, there is no more pressing concern than the price of gasoline,” Bush said at the White House, laying out a four-part plan including allowing drilling off of U.S. coasts.

He also called for tapping into oil shale, allowing exploration and production in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and expanding refining capacity by speeding up the permitting process.

With gasoline prices averaging $4.13 a gallon in the latest week, energy costs have become a front-and-center issue in the presidential campaign. McCain’s opponent, Barack Obama, criticized the Republican senator’s plan on Tuesday, saying offshore drilling wouldn’t save Americans much money and at the pump. A year ago, average gasoline prices were $3.06 a gallon.

Bush jumped into the fight Wednesday, saying “families across the country are looking to Washington for a response.” Offshore production could yield 18 billion barrels of oil over time, Bush said, calling the ban on such drilling “outdated and counterproductive.”

Bush said he wants the Democratic Congress to first lift its 27-year-old ban and then he will lift an 18-year-old executive order against offshore drilling. The executive ban was put in place by Bush’s father in 1990.

House lawmakers voted to lift the ban in June 2006 but the Senate failed to follow suit. Bush said Democratic lawmakers are standing in the way of further development of U.S. oil reserves.

“We need to increase supply, especially here at home,” Bush said.

McCain earned the enmity of environmental groups with his support for lifting the offshore drilling ban — a prohibition he’d previously backed. Other groups, however, support such drilling, saying it will increase supply over time.

Florida’s governor, Charlie Crist, also reversed his longstanding opposition to the ban this week and urged that states be permitted to decide whether to allow drilling off of their coasts. Crist, a Republican, is mentioned as a possible vice-presidential candidate pick for McCain.

A majority of Americans — 57 percent — support opening up new territories to drilling, according to a recent Gallup poll.

Bush’s announcement came as the Energy Department reported that crude-oil supplies dropped for a fifth week, by 1.2 million barrels to 301.0 million for the week ended June 13. They’ve fallen a total of almost 25 million in five weeks.