ERROR 1
ERROR 1
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
Password and Confirm password must match.
If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)
ERROR 2
ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.
The House Appropriations Committee voted on May 10 to lift a long-standing congressional moratorium that prohibits exploration and development of natural gas in most of the outer continental shelf. By a 37-to-25 vote, the panel approved an amendment from Rep. John E. Peterson (R-Pa.) that would eliminate the ban in the fiscal 2007 Interior Department spending bill. The measure would not repeal the existing ban on offshore oil production nor would it affect a presidential moratorium, in effect until 2012, that bars oil and gas drilling in virtually all coastal waters outside the central and western Gulf of Mexico. The offshore bans have been renewed annually since 1982 through the Interior Department appropriations bill. But with U.S. consumers paying the highest natural gas prices in the world, lawmakers have been under growing pressure to allow wider offshore leasing. "Today's action represents the first time in 25 years that a congressional committee has voted to reduce barriers to U.S. natural gas production that is so vital to America's consumers, economy, and jobs," said American Chemistry Council President Jack N. Gerard. The legislation now heads to the full House, which rejected Peterson's drilling plan last year.
Join the conversation
Contact the reporter
Submit a Letter to the Editor for publication
Engage with us on Twitter