Markey Asks President Bush: Stop U.S. Oil Exports

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA), chair of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, is not following Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) emerging support for offshore drilling. The senior Democrat is asking the White House to end all exports of U.S. oil in order to stem rising gas prices.

In a letter to President George W. Bush on Tuesday, Markey said stopping exports of American petroleum products would increase domestic supply by nearly 10 percent of the nation's daily oil consumption.

The United States consumes 20 million barrels of oil a day.

Markey said U.S. oil exports increased 1.433 million barrels a day last year to 1.806 million barrels in May. The nation's exports of petroleum products also rose to the highest level in history in February.

Markey, the third longest-serving member of Congress from New England, stood firm on his opposition against offshore drilling and told the President that the Energy Department projects offshore drilling, at its height in 2030, would produce only 200,000 barrels per day or one-ninth of current U.S. oil exports.

"I am writing you to urge you to determine whether you have authority to take action... if not, to work with Congress to give the Executive Branch authority to protect America's vital resources," the congressman wrote. "It is unacceptable to allow our domestically produced oil to be exported in such large quantities... You must step forward to protect American consumers."

The letter comes as House Republicans began their fourth week of protest against Pelosi's refusal to hold an emergency session and allow a vote on offshore drilling.

The floor protest has garnered much media attention since it began Aug. 1, the same day Congress adjourned for the summer recess.

Pelosi indicated a softening of her opposition to expanding coastal exploration over the weekend when she said during the weekly Democratic radio address that Democrats will introduce legislation allowing drilling in some portions of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)after Congress resumes session next month. The bill will have " appropriate safeguards" and no "taxpayer subsidies to Big Oil,'' she said.

Pelosi had called arguments that expanding offshore drilling would decrease rising energy costs a "hoax," since drilling would "save Americans only 2 cents 10 years from now." She wants the government to release oil from the Strategic Oil Reserve in the short-term and for oil companies to first explore the 68 million acres of land already leased to them.

Republicans want to end to the moratorium on exploration in the OCS and Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge have introduced the American Energy Act, a plan that includes tapping oil shales and promoting renewable fuels. Proponents have dubbed it an "all of the above" approach, partly to deride Democratic efforts that depend heavily on using alternative energy sources.