House Rebuffs Push to Soften Offshore Drilling Ban

WASHINGTON —  A bipartisan coalition of coastal-state lawmakers beat back an effort in the House on Thursday to weaken the decades-old ban on new oil and gas drilling offshore, but it is bracing for a potentially tougher battle ahead.

The vote was 262 to 157 to defeat an effort to exempt new natural gas drilling from the federal moratorium, which covers most coastal waters except for large parts of the Gulf of Mexico.

Opposition to easing the restrictions came from coastal-state delegations, including those from California, New York, Massachusetts and Florida.

While environmentalists celebrated their victory, they said they were worried about other efforts in Congress to break through the federal moratorium on new offshore drilling.

Bipartisan efforts are underway in the Senate, for example, to offer billions of dollars to entice financially hurting states to opt out of the moratorium.

The bill’s sponsors hope to include the measure in a sweeping overhaul of national energy policy now being drafted in the Senate.

The push to ease the restrictions is being driven by a combination of economic and political factors: Lawmakers are under pressure to do something about high energy prices, and energy industry groups and their congressional allies have been emboldened by the Senate vote earlier this year, after years of debate, to open part of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to energy exploration.

Richard A. Charter, a longtime drilling foe who is co-chairman of the National Outer Continental Shelf Coalition, an environmental advocacy group, called the House vote “only the beginning” of efforts in Congress to open coastal areas to drilling.

“This is a good time not to take your favorite beach for granted, because it could disappear while you’re there,” he said.

Mark Ferrulo, director of the Florida Public Interest Research Group, added, “This fight is far from over.... We’re not going to sleep until this Congress goes home.”

Industry officials argue that lawmakers should reconsider the moratorium because of high energy prices and U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

In addition, they point to new technology that they assert has reduced the environmental risk from drilling.

“It’s a new day in the energy business, and those who want to live in the past are only hurting the American consumer,” said Jeff Eshelman of the Independent Petroleum Assn. of America, a trade group for independent oil and gas producers.

Still, the bipartisan House vote Thursday underscored the political challenge facing the industry and its congressional allies.

The congressional moratorium was put in place in 1982, and lawmakers have renewed it every year since then. In addition, much of the nation’s coastal waters are off limits to new oil and gas leasing until 2012 under an executive order signed by President George H.W. Bush. His son, President George W. Bush, has said he will honor his father’s moratorium. Offshore drilling has been a hot topic in California since the 1969 oil spill off Santa Barbara focused national attention on the issue, with dramatic images of oil-soaked birds unable to fly and miles of ocean and beach covered with thick sludge.

There was another attempt Thursday in the House to circumvent the moratorium.

An amendment was offered to a spending bill that would have lifted the moratorium on exploration in a now-restricted section of the eastern Gulf of Mexico if imports account for more than two-thirds of U.S. oil consumption. But that measure was struck down on a point of order and it never came before the House for action.

Despite the House vote supporting the moratorium, pro-drilling forces hope to include in the Senate energy bill a measure that would offer states a share of oil and gas leasing revenues -- potentially billions of dollars a year -- as an inducement to open coastal waters.

Such a measure could be more successful than the proposal defeated in the House on Thursday, because proponents portray it as letting states decide for themselves whether they want to be exempted from the moratorium.

“Given that state budgets around the country right now are rather stretched, we would think there would be some states that would have an interest in exploring new revenue streams for their states,” said Adam Sharp, a spokesman for Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.).

Environmentalists have assailed the Senate legislation as a divide-and-conquer strategy to weaken the federal ban. “It’s an effort to pick off one state at a time,” Ferrulo said.

California opposes new offshore drilling, and the state’s frequently fractious delegation largely came together Thursday to oppose easing restrictions.

Eight Republicans -- John T. Doolittle of Rocklin, Wally Herger of Marysville, Duncan Hunter of El Cajon, Dan Lungren of Chico, Gary G. Miller of Diamond Bar, Devin Nunes of Tulare, Dana Rohrabacher of Huntington Beach and Bill Thomas of Bakersfield -- voted to lift the moratorium.

The remaining 12 Republicans joined 31 Democrats in voting against doing so. Two Democrats -- Jane Harman of Venice and Juanita Millender-McDonald of Carson -- did not vote.

The Virginia legislature approved a bill this year aimed at opening the state’s coast to drilling for natural gas. The bill was vetoed by Gov. Mark R. Warner, a Democrat, but the bill’s author signaled that he would try again to win the bill’s approval.

The issue has created unusual political alliances, bringing together environmentalists with pro-business Republicans worried about the impact of drilling on beach tourism.

During Thursday’s debate, Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-San Diego) called drilling a threat to California beaches. “We invite you to come spend your money in California,” he said, “but you’re not going to come if we start poking holes in the bottom of the Pacific.”