In an election-year swipe at President Barack Obama's energy policies, the Republican-led House on Wednesday voted to revoke Obama's
five-year plan for offshore drilling, replacing it with its own plan
that calls for more ambitious oil and gas development off the U.S.
coast.
The legislation will likely go nowhere in the Senate and the White House
has issued a veto threat, but as with the tax and regulatory bills the
House is also taking up this month, it puts lawmakers on the record on
the issues that divide the two parties.
Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, said the bill would offer lawmakers a choice between Obama's
restrictive plan and the far more expansive Republican version that
opens up areas off the Atlantic and southern California for drilling.
The
Republican proposal passed 253-170 with 25 Democrats supporting it. The
House also voted 261-164 to reject the president's plan.
The
Interior Department on June 28 announced its 2012-2017 offshore oil and
gas leasing program that schedules 12 potential lease sales in the Gulf
of Mexico and three off the coast of Alaska. The White House,
in its veto threat issued earlier this week, said its plan makes
available for development more than 75 percent of estimated, technically
recoverable oil and gas resources in U.S. oceans.
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