US president lifts executive ban on offshore drilling

Source: Agencies  |   2008-7-15  |     ONLINE EDITION

UNITED States President George W. Bush lifted an executive ban on offshore oil drilling yesterday and challenged Congress to do the same, a gambit to turn the enormous public frustration about gasoline prices into political leverage.

Democratic law makers rejected Bush's plan as a symbolic stunt.

With gas prices topping US$4.10 a gallon nationally, Bush made his most assertive move to extend oil exploration, an energy priority of his presidency. By lifting the executive prohibition against coastal drilling, Bush rescinded a White House policy that his father, President George H.W. Bush, put in place in 1990.

The move will have no practical effect unless Congress acts, too. Both executive and legislative bans must be lifted before offshore exploration could happen.

Bush had urged Congress a month ago to go first and reversed himself yesterday. He said the country could no longer afford to wait.

"Democratic leaders can show that they have finally heard the frustrations of the American people by matching the action I've taken today, repealing the congressional ban, and passing legislation to facilitate responsible offshore exploration," Bush said in an event held in the White House's Rose Garden.

The president's direct link between record gas prices and offshore drilling glossed over a key point. Even if Congress agreed, the exploration for oil would take a decade or more to produce real results. It is not projected to reduce gas prices in the short term. Even the White House routinely emphasizes there is no quick fix.

Both presidential campaigns weighed in on the hot political topic.

Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, called Bush's move "a very important signal" and prodded his Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama, to drop his opposition to offshore drilling.