ARLINGTON, Va. -- Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain called Monday for lifting federal rules that prevent states from authorizing oil exploration off their coasts, said Bloomberg News. He aligned himself with other members of his party in Congress who are pressing for expanded domestic drilling as oil and gasoline prices hit record highs.
"I am not dictating to the states that they drill or they engage in oil exploration," the Arizona senator said at his campaign headquarters. "I am saying the moratoria should be lifted so that they have the opportunity to do so."
McCain [image-nocss] has been criticized by some Republicans for not supporting oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska, as well as off Florida. On Monday, he stuck to his opposition to drilling in the ANWR, but suggested he might be open to exploration in other places.
"I believe that ANWR is a pristine area," he said. "But I also believe that lifting the moratoria from offshore drilling or oil and natural gas exploration is something that we place as a very high priority."
According to The Los Angeles Times, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's campaign said, "John McCain's support of the moratorium on offshore drilling during his first presidential campaign was certainly laudable, but his decision to completely change his position and tell a group of Houston oil executives exactly what they wanted to hear today was the same Washington politics that has prevented us from achieving energy independence for decades."
A Republican bid to end the moratorium in a Department of the Interior spending bill failed in a House subcommittee on a 9 to 6 vote Wednesday, said the report. Democrats are pushing the industry to drill for oil and natural gas in areas where they already hold leases, but have not started production.
The moratorium was initiated in a spending bill for the Interior Department in 1982 and has been extended by presidents since then, the report added.
In a statement on his website, McCain said, "I'll call for lifting the federal moratorium for states that choose to permit exploration. I think that this, and perhaps providing additional incentives for states to permit exploration off their coasts, would be very helpful in the short term in resolving our energy crisis. We've seen the impact of it in the form of food prices, the form of gasoline, and the form of threats of inflation, and indeed indications of inflation. We must embark on a national mission to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil and reduce greenhouse gases through the development of alternative energy sources. And, as I said, exploration is a step toward the longer term goal. And, I will repeat my advocacy of a gas tax holiday, which is impacting low-income Americans on a fixed income who are driving automobiles that consume gasoline at a greater rate, and they're driving further, and I think that they deserve a break."
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Also on his website, McCain has laid out the following policies:
John McCain Will Help Americans Hurting From High Gasoline and Food Costs. Americans need relief right now from high gas prices. John McCain will act immediately to reduce the pain of high gas prices. John McCain Believes We Should Institute a Summer Gas Tax Holiday. Hard-working American families are suffering from higher gasoline prices. John McCain calls on Congress to suspend the 18.4-cent federal gas tax and 24.4-cent diesel tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day. (Click here to view McCain's gasoline tax holiday petition webpage.) John McCain Will Stop Filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to Reduce Demand. International demand for oil is bolstered by federal purchases for the SPR. There is no reason to fill it when oil is so expensive, the overall SPR is of adequate size, and when it places further upward pressure on prices. John McCain Will End Policies That Contribute to Higher Transportation and Food Costs. Ethanol subsidies, tariff barriers and sugar quotas drive up food prices and hurt Americans. However, we cannot take the wrong direction and cut off trade for American goods.Meanwhile,click here to view former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich's website, which is featuring his "Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less" campaign.
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