McCain calls for end to offshore drilling ban

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Tuesday called for the US to increase domestic oil production and the use of alternative energy sources rather than rely on “hostile and undemocratic regimes” for its energy needs.

Speaking to supporters in Houston, McCain indicated the need to develop US offshore oil and gas production.

“As for offshore drilling, it's safe enough these days that not even hurricanes Katrina and Rita could cause significant spillage from the battered rigs off the coasts of New Orleans and Houston,” he said. “Yet for reasons that become less convincing with every rise in the price of foreign oil, the federal government discourages offshore production.”

He spoke of the need to curb the current transfer of wealth to oil producing nations as a result of US energy demand.

“We must be bold in our plans to break our strategic dependence on oil, and over the next two weeks, I'll be offering a vision that will be bold,” McCain said.

“In oil, gas, and coal deposits, we have enormous energy reserves of our own,” McCain said. “And we are gaining the means to use these resources in cleaner, more responsible ways.”

“And with gasoline running at more than four dollars a gallon, many do not have the luxury of waiting on the far-off plans of futurists and politicians,” he continued.

The US has proven oil reserves of at least 21bn bbl, he said, but “a broad federal moratorium stands in the way of energy exploration and production. And I believe it is time for the federal government to lift these restrictions and to put our own reserves to use”.

The US House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to vote on Wednesday on offshore drilling authorisation.

However, he maintained his opposition to opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil exploration and drilling. “Quite rightly, I believe, we confer a special status on some areas of our country that are best left undisturbed.”

He voiced support of a federal probe of the role of futures trading in rising oil prices.

“Investigation is underway to root out this kind of reckless wagering, unrelated to any kind of productive commerce, because it can distort the market, drive prices beyond rational limits, and put the investments and pensions of millions of Americans at risk,” McCain said.

He also called for the nation to develop nuclear energy, which he called "a proven energy source that requires zero emissions".

McCain took a verbal shot at Democratic contender Barrack Obama, saying he “wants a windfall profits tax on oil, to go along with the new taxes he also plans for coal and natural gas. If the plan sounds familiar, it's because that was President Jimmy Carter's big idea too - and a lot of good it did us.”

“Now as then, all a windfall profits tax will accomplish is to increase our dependence on foreign oil, and hinder exactly the kind of domestic exploration and production we need,” McCain said.

< previous article(ICIS Podcast: Chemical News Central 2 November 2009)

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