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McCain Supports Drilling Expansion

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The Associated Press

Published: June 17, 2008

ARLINGTON, Va. - Sen. John McCain said Monday that the federal moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling should be lifted, and individual states given the right to pursue energy exploration in waters near their coasts.

With gasoline prices rising and the United States chronically dependent on foreign oil, the Republican presidential contender said his proposal would "be very helpful in the short term resolving our energy crisis."

McCain of Arizona also suggested giving the states incentives, including a greater share of royalties paid by companies that drill for oil, to permit exploration.

Asked how far offshore states should be given control of drilling rights, he said that was a matter for negotiation.

He offered no other details for his proposal, which he is expected to describe more fully today in an energy speech.

McCain's presidential rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, opposes an end to the moratorium, a spokesman said. Hari Sevugan said McCain's "plan to simply drill our way out of our energy crisis is the same misguided approach backed by President Bush that has failed our families for too long and only serves to benefit the big oil companies."

The current drilling moratorium is a perennial cause for controversy, pitting those who favor additional exploration against environmentalists.

The current ban covers an estimated 80 percent of U.S. coastal waters. Given Democratic opposition in Congress to ending it, the Bush administration and congressional Republicans have been seeking the type of state option McCain endorsed.

The GOP presidential candidate said a recent run-up in the price of oil was having an adverse effect on consumers.

"We've seen the impact of it in the form of food prices, in the form of gasoline, in the form of threats of inflation and indeed indications of inflation, and we must embark on a national mission to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil," he told reporters.

McCain has sought to carve out something of a middle road on energy issues, parting company with many Republicans by calling for measures to reduce greenhouse gases and opposing drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, for example.

Later, at a fundraising event in Dallas, McCain told a questioner in his audience that he remains opposed to drilling in the wildlife refuge, a pristine wilderness area that has been the subject of pitched battles in Congress in recent years.

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