Blunt Criticizes Pelosi's Refusal To Allow Offshore Drilling

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The heated debate among Democrats and Republicans about an energy bill became even more contentious over the weekend after House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for refusing to allow a vote on offshore oil drilling.

Blunt told CNN's 'Late Edition' that Pelosi would have to live with her decision to block Republican efforts to help stem rising oil prices by lifting the legislative ban on coastal oil exploration. He also insisted that offshore oil drilling "is an environmentally safe thing to do."

His statements came after a two-day "Find More, Use Less" tour of Missouri to unveil a new energy plan. Blunt's plan includes lifting the legislative moratorium on coastal oil exploration, and providing tax credits to families and businesses that use energy-efficient technologies.

Pelosi firmly said last Thursday that she would not put any bill on offshore oil drilling up for a vote, citing the 33 million acres for drilling already provided by the government to oil companies. She also repeated her call for President George W. Bush to authorize a drawdown from the Strategic Oil Reserve, a proposal President Bush has said does not address the fundamental issue of oil prices.

"The Strategic Oil Petroleum Reserve is for... emergencies," President Bush said during a press conference last week. "But that doesn't address the fundamental issue. And we need to address the fundamental issue, which I, frankly, have been talking about since I first became President - which is a combination of using technology to have alternative sources of energy, but at the same time finding oil and gas here at home."

The U.S. stockpile is currently 97 percent full with 702 million barrels of oil. The U.S. consumes 20 million barrels daily.

Democrats also failed to pass a bill, Drill Responsibly in Leased Lands Act on Thursday, calling for drilling in already-designated lands in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska after 162 Republicans voted against the measure. Blunt called the bill "the latest attempt by Democratic leadership to create the misimpression that it's doing something - anything - to lower the price at the pump for struggling Americans," according to an official news release.

Offshore oil exploration is prohibited by a 1981 legislative moratorium, and a 1990 executive order that Bush lifted earlier this month.