Thursday, June 19, 2008

Bush Backs Drilling

· With gasoline prices topping $4 a gallon, President Bush is asking Congress to lift its long-standing ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, saying the United States needs to produce more of the energy it uses.

Motorists want something to be done about the record price of oil, much of which is produced in other countries. "Families across the country are looking to Washington for a response," Bush said.

Drilling for oil and gas off nearly the entire American coastline has been banned for the past quarter-century. Previous efforts to lift the ban have been met with strong opposition. Lawmakers last debated oil drilling in the U.S. coastal areas in 2005 and 2006, when gasoline averaged $1.84 a gallon.

Bush said offshore drilling could yield 18 billion barrels of oil over time, though it would take years for production to start.

Keith Hennessey, the director of the president's economic council, said that even a quick change in the law would have no immediate effect on oil supply. The impact, Hennessey said, "is definitely measured in years."

· The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the latest levee break along the Mississippi River brings the total to 11. A levee is a ridge of earth or stone that is built to prevent a river from overflowing.

Drier weather since Sunday has helped the worst-flooded areas of Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin to dry out. But as rivers have receded, the runoff has swollen the southbound rush of the Mississippi, leading to more flooding and stress on levees.

"We basically have about three dozen levee systems we're concerned about overtopping as the river continues to rise," said Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Ron Fournier.

The slow-rolling disaster, the worst floods in the Midwest in 15 years, has submerged vast sections of the U.S. farm belt.

Estimates are that 5 million acres have been damaged and will not produce a crop this year.