Published: September 15, 2008 06:53 pm         

House GOP blasts Democrats’ energy measure as a ‘bait-and-switch’ political gimmick

House Republicans scoffed Monday at the energy plan advanced by Rep. Nick Rahall and Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a “bait-and-switch” political gimmick that would leave 88 percent of America’s offshore oil reserves permanently untapped.

A vote could come as early as today, at least by Wednesday, on the Democratic plan, strongly promoted by Rahall, D-W.Va., and other House leaders as one with “major concessions” to the earlier GOP measure still tucked away in committee.

Energy has become a critical issue in this presidential campaign, accelerated by the mantra of “drill, baby, drill” by Republicans at their national convention, mocking the Democratic leadership’s decision to take a five-week vacation in August when gas hit the $4 mark and a GOP drill-it-all measure gathered dust in committee.

“Democrats would have the American people believe they are pushing some great compromise on offshore drilling,” Brian Schubert, communications director for the House Republican Conference, told The Register-Herald.

“They aren’t. It’s a political bait-and-switch. By refusing to allow states to share in the revenues from American exploration, they guarantee that exploration will never happen.”

Even if the bill reaches the Senate, he said, the bill is in trouble, given strong opposition by Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., who calls it “dead on arrival” since it fails to provide revenue sharing between the states and federal government.

“The Senate will never pass a bill without revenue sharing, in my view,” she was quoted as saying.

Rahall has defended the bill’s provision that permits states to permit drilling within 50 miles of a coastline, saying even though no revenues are pledged to them, benefits would be manifested in jobs creation, additional equipment purchases and the like. Moreover, the measure encompasses renewable and alternative sources of energy, with a strong emphasis on clean coal technology, Rahall said last weekend.

Schubert, however, said the bill maintains a ban on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge of Alaska, keeping some 10.4 billion barrels of oil in the ground, along with 2 trillion barrels of oil shale in the American West.

Rahall’s promises to the contrary, he said, the Democratic bill is hardly “drill, baby, drill.”

“Republicans for years have supported what we call an ‘all-of-the-above’ energy strategy,” Schubert said.

“We need it all. The American people want it all. The Democrats are giving us gimmicks and half measures that the American people see through. House Democrats are trying to pass a bait-and-switch bill. We believe the American people will see through it.”

Schubert said the Democratic bill came in response to the “aggressive effort” by House Republicans who stuck around in Congress after the majority party left the capital for an extended vacation without acting on the GOP measure.

“We called repeatedly on Rahall and Pelosi and the Democratic leadership to hold an open, full and fair debate and vote, up or down (on the Republican measure) and they refused,” he said.

“The House plan would leave 88 percent of America’s offshore energy reserves under permanent lock and key.”

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com