Bush Delivers Remarks on Energy

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Bush Urges Domestic Oil Production

In a Rose Garden speech on Wednesday, President Bush outlines four steps to expand domestic oil production in response to rising gas prices.

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So this morning I asked Democratic congressional leaders to move forward with four steps to expand American oil and gasoline production.

First, we should expand American oil production by increasing access to the outer continental shelf, or OCS.

Experts believe that the OCS could produce about 18 billion barrels of oil. That would be enough to match America's current oil production for almost 10 years.

The problem is that Congress has restricted access to key parts of the OCS since the early 1980s. Since then, advances in technology have made it possible to conduct oil exploration in the OCS that is out of sight, protects coral reefs and habitats, and protects against oil spills.

With these advances and a dramatic in oil prices, congressional restrictions on OCS exploration have become outdated and counterproductive.

BUSH: Republicans in Congress have proposed several promising bills that would lift the legislative ban on oil exploration in the OCS.