Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Larry Craig (R-ID) introduced bipartisan energy security legislation last Wednesday that, among other things, would permit domestic producers to explore for oil and natural gas in U.S. and Cuban waters located as close as 45 miles from Florida.

The bill contends that domestic producers should be allowed to drill in these waters, where foreign national oil companies have currently been granted access by Cuba to carry out exploration and production activities. “This new access levels the playing field by allowing [the] U.S. to compete for resources that are currently available only to Cuba and countries other than the U.S.,” a summary of the legislation said.

Toward this aim, the measure calls on Congress to open up more of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to drilling by lifting the federal moratoria boundary from 125 miles to within 45 miles of the coast. “This is still beyond the line of sight along the coast in the eastern Gulf of Mexico,” the bill summary noted. Congress last December passed legislation, which was enacted into law, that gave producers access to the eastern Gulf within 125 miles of the Florida coastline (see NGI, Dec. 25, 2006). That was a major battle, and a bill to cut the distance to 45 miles would likely face huge opposition in Congress.

The Senate bill also proposes that an inventory be conducted of the oil and natural gas resources off the southeastern seaboard of the U.S. using the best available assessment technologies. The inventory would be contingent on the governors of the affected states — Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia — petitioning the Interior Department to remove any existing federal legislative or administrative prohibitions on such assessments.

“This legislation recognizes that energy security begins here at home…Opening the eastern Gulf of Mexico to exploration is a good first step,” said Mike Linn, chairman of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, which represents independent oil and gas producers. He also said an inventory of oil and gas reserves along the eastern seaboard was “long overdue.”

The Dorgan-Craig measure includes a number of other energy security measures as well. It calls for an annual increase in the corporate average fuel economy standards, would provide tax credits for alternative and fuel efficient motor vehicles, would establish a renewable fuels standard; and would promote the creation of a biofuels infrastructure.

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