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U.S. Senate backs study of coastal oil, gas resources
by The Associated Press
The U.S. Senate on June 12 called for a comprehensive inventory of offshore oil and gas resources, turning aside concerns that the effort might lead to energy development in coastal waters closed to drilling for two decades.
An amendment that would have stripped the study from a broad energy bill was rejected 54-44. Supporters said the country should know how much oil and gas it has in case those reserves might need to be tapped.
But many senators, especially those from coastal states, said they feared the study was but a first step to drilling in areas now protected.
While an inventory “appears to be benign,” said Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., “it's nothing more than an attempt to undermine” the existing bans in effect for most of the coastal waters outside the eastern and central Gulf of Mexico and parts of Alaska.
Other senators said the study was needed so the government could learn how much oil and gas is available. They denied it was an attempt to scuttle drilling bans in effect since 1982. They also said the most modern technology should be used to get an accurate idea of the reserves.
“We've got to find out what we've got. ... Do we want to adopt an ostrich policy?” asked Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. Provision removed in House version Graham said he would continue to try to remove the provision when final legislation is worked out with the House, which rejected a similar study when it passed its energy bill this year.
The oil and gas industry has sought for years a fresh, more comprehensive survey of the Outer Continental Shelf, using the latest technologies. Industry officials have argued that some of the off-limits coastal areas have large natural gas deposits that can be developed without harming the environment.
The Bush administration says it has no intention of tampering with the bans. They protect waters along both coasts as well as the eastern Gulf of Mexico and some waters off Alaska from oil and gas development. The Interior Department supports the new study and said it does not affect the bans or “our commitment to them.”
Environmentalists reacted sharply to the Senate action.
It “undermines 20 years of strong congressional and administrative support for protecting America's coastal areas from harmful offshore oil and gas activities,” said Lisa Speer, a marine biologist at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
“Allowing the inventory to go forward puts marine life and America's coasts at risk,” said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, because it “opens the door to destructive offshore drilling.”
Even if the study does not lead to oil development, environmentalists said the kind of seismic tests that would be used have their own effect on marine life. The tests, which use high decibel noise generated by firing an air gun underwater, are harmful to fish and other sea life, Speer said.
The oil and gas industry has maintained that the danger to sea creatures from seismic studies has been exaggerated. Also, they say, any potential problems can be mitigated by monitoring and controlling test areas.
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