And on a related note, drilling and refinery building are blocked once again:
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http://www.theledger.com/article/20080514/NEWS/9469497/1039Senate Blocks Oil Drilling Proposal
Bill would have allowed states to petition to drill off the Atlantic, Pacific coasts.
By KIRSTEN B. MITCHELL
LEDGER WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON | Senate Democrats and a handful of Republicans from coastal states beat back a proposal Tuesday seeking to erode the ban on oil and gas drilling in Atlantic and Pacific waters.
The measure, which did not affect the Gulf of Mexico, would have allowed the governors of the nation's 22 continental coastal states, including Alaska, to petition the federal government for permission to drill on the Outer Continental Shelf, the sloping area just beyond the beach.
Sen. Mel Martinez was among five Republicans from coastal states who voted against the measure, which failed on a 42-56 vote. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., also voted against the proposal.
Other coastal state Republicans who helped sink the plan were Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore.
The oil drilling measure was part of a Republican energy plan that also would
have opened 2,000 acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuse in Alaska to oil and gas leasing, provided incentives for building refineries and
battery-powered vehicles, and allowed oil and shale drilling in the West.
Republicans attempted to tack the plan onto unrelated legislation on federal flood insurance, which the Senate later passed. During the debate, Martinez rejected efforts to use the flood program to expand oil drilling and natural gas leasing in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) off the Atlantic Coast of Florida.
Democratic presidential candidates, Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, voted against the measure. Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee did not vote on the measure Tuesday.