Legislative Watch (NRDC)

The House passed three bills, introduced by Natural Resources Committee chair Hastings (R-WA), that would expand offshore oil drilling while weakening federal oversight.  On 5/5 the House passed H.R. 1230 by a vote of 266-149, with 33 Democrats supporting the proposal and two Republicans opposing it. The bill would require leases for drilling to be offered in areas off the coast of Virginia and in the western Gulf of Mexico that were withdrawn in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The bill would also extinguish legal challenges to the environmental impact statements prepared for drilling in the western Gulf, even though those documents were prepared before the Gulf disaster. On 5/11 the House passed H.R. 1229 by a vote of 263-163, with 28 Democrats voting for the bill and no Republicans opposing it. H.R. 1229 would set a 30-day deadline for the review of drilling permit applications. Finally, on 5/12 the House passed H.R. 1231 by a vote of 243-179, with 21 Democrats voting for passage and nine Republicans opposing it. The most far-reaching of the three measures, H.R. 1231 would mandate oil and gas leasing along the coast from Maine to North Carolina, off of southern California and in the Arctic. For NRDC’s online newsletter, click here.