In his weekly radio address on Saturday, President Bush said Congress was ignoring the American public’s wishes by not expanding offshore drilling on the outer continental shelf.

“If members of Congress do not support the American people at the gas pump, then they should not expect the American people to support them at the ballot box,” Bush warned.

President Bush said before members of Congress begin their heavy campaigning, they shouldn’t leave Washington without addressing high gas prices. “At the very least,” the President suggested, “Congress should take action on three common sense energy solutions that enjoy bipartisan support.” Those are:

Open the way for environmentally responsible oil exploration on the outer continental shelf. Expand access to oil shale. Extend renewable power tax credits. Make credits long term and expand them to cover all forms of low-emission power generation – including nuclear.

It appears as though Democrats have indeed moved a little on the offshore drilling issue, mostly so they can get through a broader energy policy that would include extensions of the federal tax credits for renewable energy. I’m less certain, however, how well either oil-shale or nuclear will fare. There is a good chance that there will be some broad-based energy legislation brought to the floor of the House in the next week or two. According an article in Saturday’s Washington Post:

“The proposal would allow oil and gas drilling in federal waters off the Atlantic Coast from Virginia to Georgia and off Florida in the eastern Gulf of Mexico with a 50-mile protected buffer from shore according to the aide. States would be allowed to “opt in” to drilling in federal waters off their coasts if they choose to do so with a portion of the royalties going to the states.”

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