Reply #21: THE Rs: 2006 - House OKs Oil Drilling in Gulf of Mexico

[L. Coyote]

Before losing control of both houses, the Rs moved to enrich their good buddies at Big Oil
But, HEY, did our price per gallon drop. HELL NO!

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House OKs Oil Drilling in Gulf of Mexico
House moves to open Gulf area to oil and gas drilling; Senate action expected
WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2006 - H. JOSEF HEBERT AP - http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/08/ap/business/mainD8LSTT2O0.shtml


(AP) The House approved oil and gas drilling Friday in a vast area of the Gulf of Mexico south of Florida's Panhandle and agreed to steer hundreds of millions of dollars in royalty payments to Gulf states to restore coastal wetlands and repair hurricane damage.

The drilling provision was attached to a package of popular tax breaks that were approved by vote of 367-45 as lawmakers scrambled to adjourn and end of the 109th Congress.

The tax legislation, including the drilling provision, was expected to be combined with a trade bill and then sent to the Senate in hopes of prompt approval _ assuming last-minute roadblocks can be avoided in the Senate. It wasn't clear late Friday when the Senate might take up the legislation.

The House bill opens to energy companies 8.3 million acres in the east-central Gulf of Mexico that is currently off-limits to drilling. The Interior Department is required to issue its first leases for the area within a year and tap what is believed to be 1.3 billion barrels of oil and 6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. ...........