Since 1982, the federal government has prohibited this, along most of the Outer Continental Shelf.
More domestic supply, which means quick assurance that Congress will open gas-rich acreage on the Outer Continental Shelf.
It refuses to open up the vast oil- and natural gas-rich Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) for exploration and drilling.
Royal Dutch Shell estimates that the waters of the outer continental shelf contain 100 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil.
Recent studies have found that federal waters along the Outer Continental Shelf likely contain more than 80 billion barrels of oil.
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Undeveloped fields in the Outer Continental Shelf alone contain an estimated 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
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Yet earlier this month the Interior Department released a new five-year plan that puts most of the Outer Continental Shelf off-limits for oil drilling.
Experts estimate that in the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, where oil exploration is mostly banned, there are more than 85 billion barrels in reserves.
They've removed their cases to federal court, citing the OPA as well as a federal law that governs oil spills on the outer continental shelf .
The group in the Senate says its plan probably would allow drilling in new areas of the outer continental shelf, an idea vehemently opposed by Democratic leaders.
The Department of Interior which controls permits for drilling on federal onshore lands and the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) is also exerting a big influence upon fracking operations.
Royal Dutch Shell (nyse: RDSA - news - people ) estimates that the waters of the outer continental shelf contain 100 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil.
Suppose for a moment that Congress listens to President Bush's remarks Wednesday and removes the decades-old ban on offshore drilling for oil and natural gas on the Outer Continental Shelf.
These scapegoats rightly pointed out that oil and gas supplies would be meaningfully boosted if restrictions on drilling and exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf and in Alaska were lifted.
The President outlined a plan that, as a result of the end of the moratorium on the Outer Continental Shelf, to set forth areas that can be examined for further drilling.
Congress quietly lifted the ban on offshore oil drilling yesterday, opening the vast waters of the outer continental shelf to oil and gas companies eager to exploit the area's substantial energy resources.
The House is considering legislation that would end the federal moratorium on offshore drilling along much of the Outer Continental Shelf (excluding certain environmentally and politically sensitive stretches of Florida and Alaska).
In mid-July, the department's Mineral Management Services, which controls the mineral rights on federal lands, asserted its jurisdiction over renewable energy projects--wind, wave, solar and tidal energy--on federal waters in the Outer Continental Shelf.
There are tens of billions of barrels of oil--not to mention gobs of natural gas--off the U.S.' coasts, yet Congress has declared 85% of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf off-limits to exploration and drilling.
There are tens of billions of barrels of oil--not to mention gobs of natural gas--off our own coasts, yet Congress has declared 85% of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf off-limits to exploration and drilling.
Mr. Obama's has blocked exploration and production on significant areas of the Outer Continental Shelf, and the few leases he has put up for auction contain land that is of little value to drillers.
We have looked at -- based on the fact that the ban on drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf had expired, we looked at additional areas that could be open possibly to further drilling.
In a proposal issued the week before Katrina, the Department of the Interior announced it wanted to open the outer continental shelf (600 to 9, 500 feet underwater) to exploration in the next round of lease auctions.
The group opposes legislation that would make it easier for workers to join unions and that would impose anti-dumping duties on China, and it favors drilling for oil and natural gas on the Outer Continental Shelf.
Despite Pelosi and the Democratic leadership opposing efforts to repeal a 1981 law barring most offshore drilling, the Senate group said its plan probably would allow offshore drilling in new areas of the outer continental shelf.
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Most of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf is off-limits to oil and gas exploration and production, even though there are upward of 100 billion barrels of oil and immense amounts of natural gas estimated to be there.
Oil is high because of uncertainty over Iran, disrupted supplies from Nigeria and Venezuela, crazy U.S. regulations prohibiting exploration and production in most of the Outer Continental Shelf and parts of Alaska, and expanding energy appetites in fast-growing India and China.
Speaker Pelosi is now saying that she will allow a vote to what she says responsibly increased domestic supply by opening some parts of the outer continental shelf to drilling, but, she says, with appropriate safeguards and without taxpayer subsidies to big oil.
"The agency has taken unprecedented steps and will continue to make the changes necessary to restore the American people's confidence in the safety and environmental soundness of oil and gas drilling and production on the Outer Continental Shelf, while balancing our nation's important energy needs, " spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff said.
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