With a blast at foot-dragging Democrats, President Bush told Congress yesterday “there is no excuse for delay” in overturning the longstanding ban on offshore oil drilling.
Bush said there is no greater issue facing the country than gas prices – and warned that drivers would blame Congress if it adjourns for the summer in two weeks without dealing with $4-a-gallon pump shock.
“Every American who drives to work, purchases food or ships a product has felt the effect, and families across the country are looking to Washington for a response,” Bush said.
His appeal in the White House Rose Garden came as a new poll found nearly 60 percent of Americans support moves to encourage more oil drilling.
Meanwhile, John McCain called for construction of 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030 and pledging $2 billion a year in federal funds to make clean coal a reality.
During an appearance in Springfield, Mo., the presumptive GOP candidate for president said the 104 nuclear reactors currently in operation produce about 20 percent of the nation’s annual electricity needs. He said they spare the atmosphere the equivalent of nearly all auto emissions.
Drilling on federal land on the east and west coasts has been banned by both an executive order and a congressional moratorium since 1989. Bush’s father signed the executive order after the disastrous Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
But the current President Bush said improved technology meant “sensible standards of environmental protection” would be maintained by offshore drillers.
Bush said overturning the bans could yield about 18 billion barrels of oil – enough to meet US needs for about 2 1/2 years.
Democrats on Capitol Hill quickly rejected Bush’s call, noting that oil companies can legally drill on 68 million acres of offshore waters under lease but have refused to do so.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Bush’s proposals “another page from [an] energy policy that was literally written by the oil industry – give away more public resources.”