Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

If House changes hands, oil drilling threat will recede

Maybe the polls and pundits are right about the Democrats' chances of regaining one or both chambers of Congress. Of course the Philadelphia Eagles thought they had the football game in hand Sunday when the Bucs lined up for a 62-yard field goal with 4 seconds left on the game clock. But let's assume the Democrats win back the House, which would be the equivalent of, say, making a 40-yard field goal.

One threat that has haunted Floridians for the past year would likely disappear overnight: Offshore drilling. The person almost single-handedly pushing the House effort to move oil rigs closer to Florida beaches is Rep. Richard Pombo, a California Republican. As chairman of the House Resources Committee, Pombo has had a stranglehold on the issue, even killing House efforts to consider a more responsible Senate drilling plan in the gulf.

If either of two scenarios plays out, Florida could be off the hook, at least for now. Pombo could lose his re-election bid. Only three of California's House races are competitive, and Pombo's is one of them.

Yet even if Pombo survives but Republicans lose their majority, the odds on drilling would shift dramatically. In that case, Pombo would likely be replaced by the Resources Committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Nick Rahall of West Virginia. To say Rahall was an opponent of the Republican energy bill that included expanded offshore drilling is an understatement. In an impassioned speech in June, Rahall said the bill "would only further shackle the nation to the whims and caprices of the petroleum industry."

Okay, so Rahall was also looking out for the coal industry back home, petroleum's competitor. Yet Rahall fought against every one of Pombo's antienvironmental excesses. Rahall opposed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, selling off public lands to mining companies and weakening the Endangered Species Act.

Without Pombo in the House or at least without a chairmanship, the petroleum industry would lose its most reliable puppet on offshore drilling. For that reason alone, Floridians might want to stay up late election night to see who ends up controlling the House.

[Last modified October 24, 2006, 08:02:01]