By
CBS News/The Associated Press
.
Published: Mon, July 14, 2008 - 10:06 am
Last Updated: Mon, July 14, 2008 - 3:15 pm
(CBS/ AP) In another push to deal with soaring gas prices, President Bush on Monday will lift an executive ban on offshore drilling that has stood since his father was president. But the move, by itself, will do nothing unless Congress acts as well. The president plans to officially lift the ban and explain his actions in a Rose Garden statement, White House press secretary Dana Perino said.
There are two prohibitions on offshore drilling, one imposed by Congress and another by executive order signed by former President Bush in 1990.
The lifting of the ban is what the White House calls a "two-key" operation, reports CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller. The White House said Mr. Bush, trying to ease market tensions and boost supply, wanted Congress to act before he turned his key by rescinding the Executive Order.
But Perino said Bush no longer wants to wait. She pinned blame on the leaders of the Democratic Congress for inaction.
"They haven't even held a single hearing," Perino said. "So we are going to move forward, and hopefully that will spur action by the Congress."
Asked if Bush's action alone will lead to more oil drilling, Perino said, "In terms of allowing more exploration to go forward? No, it does not."
The president, in his final months of office, has responded to record gas-prices with a series of proposals, including more oil exploration. None would have immediate impact on prices at the pump, according to White House officials, who say there is no quick fix. But starting action now would help, they say.
"It's time for members of Congress to address the pain that high gas prices are causing our citizens," the president said on Saturday. "Every extra dollar that American families spend because of high gas prices is one less dollar they can use to put food on the table or send a child to college. The American people deserve better."
With gasoline prices rising, Mr. Bush and his Republican allies think Americans are more willing to allow drilling offshore and in an Alaska wildlife refuge that environmentalists have fought successfully for decades to protect. Nearly half the people surveyed by the Pew Research Center in late June said they now consider energy exploration and drilling more important than conservation, compared with a little over a third who felt that way only five months ago. The sharpest shift in attitude came among political liberals.
Democrats say they are for drilling, but argue that oil companies aren't going after the oil where they already have leases. So why open new, protected areas? they ask. Democrats say there are 68 million acres of federal land and waters where oil and gas companies hold leases, but aren't producing oil.
"Americans are fed up every time they go to fill up and they're right to demand action. But instead of a serious response, President Bush and his allies simply repeat the same old line more drilling," Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen said in the Democrats' radio address.
"Democrats support more drilling," he said. "In fact, what the president hasn't told you is that the oil companies are already sitting on 68 million acres of federal lands with the potential to nearly double U.S. oil production. That is why in the coming days congressional Democrats will vote on 'Use It or Lose It' legislation requiring the big oil companies to develop these resources or lose their leases to someone else who will."
"But we know that drilling by itself will not solve the problem of high gas prices," Van Hollen said. "We cannot drill our way to energy independence."
He cited Democrats' calls to tap the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, because it is full and "America's rainy day is now." And he said the country must focus on new energy policies that focus on alternatives to oil.
Mr. Bush said that Democrats are at fault and that "Americans are increasingly frustrated with Congress' failure to take action.
"One of the factors driving up high gas prices is that many of our oil deposits here in the United States have been put off-limits for exploration and production. Past efforts to meet the demand for oil by expanding domestic resources have been repeatedly rejected by Democrats in Congress."
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(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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igotbanned83, once again let me refer you to the rockefellers,
Money is Power”, or shall we say, “The Monopoly to Create
Credit Money and charge interest is Absolute Power”. (Alex
James)
Amsel (Amschel) Bauer Mayer Rothschild, 1838: “Give me
control of the economics of a country; and I care not who
makes her laws. The few who understand the system, will
either be so interested from its profits or so dependant on
its favors, that there will be no opposition from that
class”. “Let me issue and control a Nation’s money and I
care not who makes its laws”.
Rothschilds’ favorite saying who along with the
Rockefellers are the major Illuminati Banking Dynasties:
“Who controls the issuance of money controls the
government!”