The act requires the Department of the Interior to examine the environmental and economic impact of drilling in potential areas. July 1, 2010, is the next scheduled date that the Interior can approve leases. After a lease is approved, the Interior must examine an applicant’s exploration plan, and then its drilling plan.
At any time in this process before drilling begins, Congress could reinstate its ban.
“The API believes that our resources are essential,” Milito said. “It is important for our energy security to keep the moratorium off the books.”
Milito said that Congress could also approve legislation amending the OCSLA to bypass its regulations and fast-track drilling. He was unaware of any lawmaker planning to introduce such legislation.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain called for an end to offshore drilling this summer when gas prices were at an all-time high. It was a reversal of the position he had adopted in his 2000 White House campaign.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama criticized McCain for the change in his position, but Obama came under fire in August when he suggested he could accept an expansion of offshore drilling if it was in a broader package of energy measures.
Obama said this wasn’t a reversal of his position on drilling and added he would not support a plan that “suggests this drilling is the answer to our energy problems.”
Waxman said the Natural Resources Committee has assured him that no leases will be granted for at least a year to companies wanting to move into newly opened areas to drill.
But Pallone said he wouldn’t be surprised if the Minerals Management Agency of the Interior Department “moved aggressively” to start leasing land.
If that were to happen, millions of acres could be claimed and held, even if no new drilling rigs were immediately dropped down just off the coasts.
Waxman and Capps said the moratorium fell victim to a hyper-partisan atmosphere in Congress, especially when gas prices spiked at over $4 a gallon this summer. And all were careful to say that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who was once adamantly opposed to a lifting of the moratorium, did not let coastal Democrats down in allowing the ban to expire.
Pelosi herself expressed disappointment that moratorium was lifted, a reaction she shared with other members of the California delegation.
“I’m disappointed,” Capps said, “but it’s understandable that it’s not there.
“There was never a universal Democratic position on drilling,” Capps continued. “Those of us who once had a strong coastal coalition have some work to do.”
Brendan Sasso contributed to this article.
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