Senate's 'Gang Of 10' Gains Another 10 Members, Pushes For Compromise On Offshore Drilling

September 15, 2008 10:31 a.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - A bipartisan group of senators known as the "Gang of 10" that is pushing for a compromise energy bill grew to 20 members last week ahead of a vote on offshore drilling.

The group, led by Sens. Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), unveiled an alternative energy proposal last month just as lawmakers began their summer recess, and the House GOP started its floor protest on drilling.

Their measure proposes to lift the moratorium the 27-year ban on coastal exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) by allowing drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The measure also gives Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia the option to allow exploration at least 50 miles off their coasts.

The plan, the New Energy Reform Act of 2008, provides $20 billion for improving fuel-efficiency in cars and proposes that 85 percent of vehicles use non-petroleum based fuel in two decades. Proponents want to reduce tax breaks for oil companies to pay for the $84 billion the plan will cost the government.

Sens. Evan Bayh (D-IN), Susan Collins (R-ME), Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) are the latest additions to the bipartisan Senate group.

"America's growing energy crisis demands immediate action. Our Group of 20 is taking an approach that goes beyond the polarizing partisanship that has poisoned Washington," Conrad and Chambliss said in a joint statement. "America's energy security is not a Democratic issue, or a Republican issue. It is an issue that affects all of us."

Other members of the group include: Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE), Norm Coleman (R-MN), Bob Corker (R-TN), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Mark Pryor (D-AK), Ken Salazar (D-CO), John Sununu (R-NH), John Thune (R-SD), John Warner (R-VA).

House Democrats, who were hammered daily on the issue by Republican colleagues during a five-week protest during the recess, are planning to vote on similar legislation on Tuesday allowing exploration 100 miles off the shores of the Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia and in the Gulf Coast off Florida. It will also transfer tax incentives from the oil industry to companies offering renewable energy.

Republicans have been asking Congress to lift the moratorium on drilling in the OCS and and Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The legislative ban ends at the end of the fiscal year. The President already lifted a 1990 executive order in July prohibiting drilling.