Senate GOP proffers energy bill
6/27/2008 - 7:03amAs oil prices hit a record high Thursday, Senate Republicans offered energy legislation that proposes a combination of production and conservation efforts, including developing oil shale in the Rocky Mountain West.
The bill, however, could be dead on arrival.
"It's laughable that these guys would call for lengthy debate in July when they spent the entire month of June running away from energy legislation," said Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Manley said the plan had "no chance" of moving forward.
Republicans said they intentionally tried to make the bill as bipartisan as possible, even leaving out drilling in Alaska because it's so controversial.
"Our intention . . . is to craft solutions for the American public that Democrats will support," said Sen. Wayne Allard, a Loveland Republican. "Coloradans do not want their elected officials talking trash over energy prices; they want relief."
The GOP legislation would repeal a moratorium on shale leasing to encourage exploration; allow deep-sea drilling in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans if the affected states approve; promote new battery technologies for hybrid vehicles; and require a study of whether speculation is affecting oil markets.
Allard, who was one of the bill's 42 co-sponsors, called it a "thoughtful and strategic approach to accomplishing what we need to do most when it comes to energy — use less and find more."
Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar of Denver praised part of the bill but criticized the shale provision. He and Rep. Mark Udall, an Eldorado Springs Democrat, authored the shale-leasing moratorium.
"While I'm pleased to see that the proponents of the bill admit that rampant speculation and failed regulation is partly to blame for high gas prices, their bill offers little to no relief for consumers," Salazar said.
"A fire sale on commercial-oil shale leases in Colorado won't change the fact that it will still be years, and maybe more than a decade, before we know if we can even produce oil from shale on a commercial scale," Salazar added.
Anne C. Mulkern: 202-662-8907 or amulkern@denverpost.com
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Drill here Drill now
What we have to do is start ignoring anything that is said by the rich environmental lobby. I know the democrats are in the pockets of the environmental lobby but the people of this country need to come first. It's time to drill in ANWR and every where else in this country. I don't know how the Democrats plan to win in November when people realize there we are sitting on billions of gallons of oil that the Democrats are not letting us drill. Instead we a are paying a fortune to forign countries for there oil.