Senate panel advances scaled-back version of OCS bill.(outer continental shelf, Senate Energy and Natural Resources )

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee has passed legislation that would lift a moratorium on oil and natural gas drilling in an area off Florida's Gulf Coast known as Lease Sale 181 and Lease Sale 182. The Senate bill is a scaled-back version of a recently passed House bill that would lift the moratorium on the entire U.S. outer continental shelf (OCS) (CW, July 5/12, p. 11). The Senate bill has Martinez: A deal "a better shot" at passing we need to make. the full Congress than the House bill, however, says ACC president and CEO Jack Gerard.

The Senate version would create a 125-mile barrier off the coast, a provision that assuages some of the concerns of …