WASHINGTON (AFP) — President George W. Bush was to call Wednesday on Congress to end a decades-old ban on offshore oil drilling, as a way to tap new energy sources to combat soaring gasoline prices.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement late Tuesday that, with gasoline now priced at more than four dollars a gallon, the president "will explicitly call on Congress to also pass legislation lifting the congressional ban on safe, environmentally-friendly offshore oil drilling."
Bush was to make his statement Wednesday at 10:35 am (1435 GMT) in the Rose Garden of the White House.
Federal law prevents drilling along the Outer Continental Shelf off Florida and in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Bush's statement comes one day after Republican presidential candidate John McCain called for the federal government to scrap the 27-year-old US moratorium on offshore oil drilling.
In his speech in the Texas oil capital of Houston, the Arizona senator reversed his support for the ban when he ran for president in 2000.
McCain has also been pushing for a summer suspension of federal taxes on gasoline, to ease consumers' pain at the gas pump.
The 1981 moratorium prevents states from allowing oil companies to conduct offshore drilling and exploration. Virtually the entire Atlantic and Pacific coastlines are protected, along with sections of the Gulf of Mexico.
McCain's demand tapped into voters' anxiety about sky-high fuel prices but his Democratic rival, Barack Obama denounced it as an election year "gimmick."
"Much like his gas tax gimmick that would leave consumers with pennies in savings, opening our coastlines to offshore drilling would take at least a decade to produce any oil at all, and the effect on gasoline prices would be negligible at best since America only has three percent of the world's oil," the Illinois senator said in a statement.
Obama is pushing for a "windfall tax" on oil companies' record profits and for federal investment of 150 billion dollars over 10 years in renewable and green energies.
"It's another example of short-term political posturing from Washington, not the long-term leadership we need to solve our dependence on oil."
Florida lawmakers have long opposed any efforts to open up their coastline to drilling and US Senator Bill Nelson forcefully restates his opposition this week to ending the moratorium, which he called "irresponsible."
"There isn't enough oil in the US to make even the smallest dent in world oil prices, which largely are being run-up by unregulated traders and speculators, including the oil companies," the Democratic senator said.
Perino said Congress should expand the United States' domestic oil supply and blamed Democratic obstructionism for blocking any action.
"The president believes Congress shouldn't waste any more time," she said.
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