Bush Lifts Executive Ban on Offshore Drilling

WASHINGTON — President Bush, in a largely symbolic move, today lifted an executive order barring oil and gas drilling in much of the federal waters offshore.

But since Congress has its own drilling moratoriums in place, the move itself won’t open new areas for offshore producers to explore.

Instead, Bush’s decision to remove the presidential ban amid record gasoline prices ratchets up the political pressure on the Democratic-controlled Congress to grant oil and gas companies greater access offshore.

"The American people are watching the numbers climb higher and higher at the pump," Bush said during a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden today, adding: "Now the ball is squarely in Congress’ court."

The U.S. Minerals Management Service estimates the offshore areas still subject to a congressional ban hold recoverable reserves of 17.8 billion barrels of oil and 76.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

But Democrats on Capitol Hill, rather than open new areas to offshore drilling, want to prod producers to drill on acreage they have already leased but failed to develop.

Bill Burton, a spokesman for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, argued: "If offshore drilling would provide short-term relief at the pump or a long-term strategy for energy independence, it would be worthy of our consideration, regardless of the risks.

"But most experts, even within the Bush Administration, concede it would do neither. It would merely prolong the failed energy policies we have seen from Washington for thirty years."

Congress, for the last 27 years, has had moratoriums in place barring oil and gas producers from drilling off the east or west coasts, as well as much of the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Congress must act each year to renew that drilling ban.

In 1990, Bush’s father, former President Bush, issued an executive order creating a secondary, multi-year barrier to oil and gas drilling. President Clinton later extended the drilling ban until 2012.

The current President Bush already has modified the presidential drilling ban twice in the wake of congressional willingness to expanded drilling territory — in the eastern Gulf and in Alaska’s North Aleutian Basin.

Drilling advocates hailed Bush’s move today.

"A ban on drilling in the same Gulf (of Mexico) that’s open to Venezuelans, Indians, Vietnamese and Cubans never made much sense except as a political barricade erected by anti-oil environmentalists in and out of Congress," said Rep. Joe Barton of Ennis, the ranking Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "Now that the president is voiding the old executive order, the issue lands with a plop on (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi’s and (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid’s collective lap. I hope they can figure out a way not to automatically talk themselves into a frenzy of opposition that prevents real action to lower gasoline prices."

Jim Hackett, chief executive officer of Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp., said Bush’s announcement "provides Congress with a real opportunity to find a positive and constructive solution to our nation’s energy challenges. Recent polling demonstrates that American consumers understand the need for greater access, and I am hopeful our leaders will seize this opportunity and allow companies like Anadarko to do what we do best — continue finding and producing the energy we all need."

Chevron spokesman Mickey Driver said the nation’s second-largest oil major — which has more leases in the Gulf of Mexico than anyone else — supports opening up off-limits areas so companies can scope out how much oil and gas is there and evaluate whether to drill.

"We have always said and continue to say that we need to develop as many resources as we can. In addition to crude and natural gas, we think we need every resource," Driver said. "We think it’s really important that we take a look at what oil and natural resources we have. So much of our resources here are off limits, and we can’t even look to see what’s there."

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Karen Matusic, a spokeswoman for the American Petroleum Institute, a Washington-based industry trade group, said lifting the ban on drilling "could increase U.S. supplies of oil and natural gas, enhance our nation’s energy security, add additional, well-paying American jobs and put billions of dollars into state and federal treasuries."

But Brent Blackwelder, president of Friends of the Earth Action, called the announced a "gimmick that won’t do anything to lower the cost of gas. It’s time to stop playing politics and start finding solutions."

Bush’s decision comes as gas prices reached new heights. Regular unleaded gasoline is currently selling for nearly $4.11 a gallon nationwide and $3.95 a gallon in Houston, according to AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

Diesel fuel also set new records, fetching an average $4.82 a gallon across the country and $4.75 at Houston area gas stations, AAA reported.

Ivanovich reported from Washington and Hays from Houston