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Obama says he'd consider offshore drilling if oil firms lose tax breaks
Barack Obama
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Published: August 3, 2008
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Sen. Barack Obama said yesterday that he would reluctantly consider accepting some new offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico in exchange for stripping oil companies of tax breaks and extending several tax credits to spur the search for alternative fuels.
At the same time, Senate Republicans appear to have dropped their insistence on opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.
Obama has until now opposed any new offshore drilling. But in a wide-ranging news conference here yesterday morning, he noted that there have been "very constructive" talks in recent days, and he applauded an $84 billion plan presented by a group of Republican and Democratic senators to permit such drilling while supporting an effort to convert most vehicles to using alternative fuels in the next 20 years. The proposed bill would strip oil companies of $30 billion in tax breaks, renew tax breaks for solar and wind power, and give consumers a tax credit to buy electric or fuel-cell cars.
"If we come up with a genuine bipartisan compromise, where I have to accept some things that I don't like in order to get energy independence, that's something I will have to consider," Obama said.
Still, he cautioned that he is not yet "ready to sign off on any approach."
The candidate, who has been campaigning hard in the crucial swing state of Florida the past two days, faces a delicate calculus with this issue. Both of Florida's U.S. senators have vowed to fight it.
Responding to Obama's shift, the campaign of Sen. John McCain, his GOP opponent, who favors an aggressive expansion of offshore drilling on every coast, accused Obama of flip-flopping.
President Bush also returned to the issue in his weekly radio speech yesterday, chastising Democrats for refusing to allow a vote on whether to lift the federal ban on offshore oil drilling before legislators left for their summer recess.
"To reduce pressure on prices, we need to increase the supply of oil, especially oil produced here at home," Bush said. It was the fourth time in a week that he has called for an end to the restrictions off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
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