House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Saturday the Democratic leadership plans to offer a broad energy bill in September that would open some closed portions of the federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) to oil and natural gas drilling. Instead of welcoming her remarks, however, House Republicans continued to be wary.

The legislation “will consider opening portions of the Outer Continental Shelf for drilling, with appropriate safeguards, and without taxpayer subsidies to Big Oil, ” Pelosi said in the Democrats’ weekly radio address.

But the apparent softening of her long-standing opposition to expanded offshore drilling comes with conditions. “A responsible domestic drilling program means an end to royalty holidays that deprive taxpayers of the royalties they deserve; an end to subsidies for profit-rich oil companies; and a requirement that Big Oil drill the leases they already own,” she said.

House Republicans remained skeptical, saying that “if her record is any guide, Speaker Pelosi will keep the vast majority of America’s offshore energy reserves under lock and key, instead casting her…’use-it-or-lose-it’ talking point as ‘opening portions’ for ‘drilling.'”

Pelosi is said to be considering OCS language that would mirror a compromise proposal unveiled by five Senate Republicans and five Democrats — known as the “Gang of 10” — earlier this month. That measure proposes to open additional Gulf of Mexico areas and allow the states of Virginia, North and South Carolina and Georgia to opt into leasing off their shores. It would not open coastal areas off states such as New Jersey and California, which have bitterly opposed offshore drilling (see Daily GPI, Aug. 4).

In addition to more offshore drilling, a House Democratic energy bill would seek to reduce the price of gasoline within 10 days by releasing crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve; would expand drilling in the Alaska oil reserve already designated for drilling; would require producers to pay the billions of dollars that they owe in royalties on production from 1998-1999 deepwater leases to invest in clean energy resources; would create a federal renewable electricity standard would cut mass transit costs for commuters; would curb “excessive” speculation in energy futures markets; and would increase the use of natural gas, according to Pelosi.

Senate staffers also are working to put together energy legislation that would allow limited offshore drilling, said Bill Wicker, spokesman for Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, last week (see Daily GPI, Aug. 14). The measure is expected to reflect some of the principles in the bipartisan “Gang of 10” energy bill.

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