Congress Approves Drilling Off Coasts

WASHINGTON - The House voted late Tuesday to open waters off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to oil and gas drilling but only 50 or more miles out to sea and only if a state agrees to energy development off its shore.

Democratic leaders called it a step toward energy independence, but Republicans labeled it a "sham" because most of the estimated 18 billion barrels of oil believed to lie below off-limits coastal waters are within 50 miles of land and will remain out of bounds.  Yahoo

   Do you hear those Republican oil barons crying in their soup because they did not get what they wanted out of this deal? How about ExxonMobile?

   The thing with this deal is that the GOP will cry and kick and scream for a bit and then the Democrats will decide to come to some sort of compromise tp quiet them down. The Dems will give in and change those 50 miles limits to something closer to the Republicans ( oil company's ) liking. We've seen this kind of crap from the Democrats to many times to believe that they will actually hold their ground on anything important to you and I.

  Even before the House vote, the White House said President Bush was prepared to veto the measure should it reach his desk. An administration statement said the bill would "stifle development" of offshore energy resources by essentially making permanent drilling bans within the 50-mile coastal buffer, while imposing new taxes on the largest oil companies.

  New taxes on the largest oil companies? WTF? They already get some $18 billion in tax breaks. Bush must be worried that those extra taxes will cut into his kickbacks or free vacations.

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