WASHINGTON - As the US Senate considers an appropriations measure setting aside funds for the US Department of the Interior, Sens. David Vitter (La.), Jim DeMint (S.C.) and John Barrasso (Wyo.) are working to include an amendment in the bill that would streamline and advance energy development along our nation's outer continental shelf (OCS).

While no one was looking the Bush Administration quietly changed regulations that would allow oil companies to extract shale from public lands. The U.S. Department of the Interior made both a land grab and a regulatory grab for enormous swaths of shale that have previously been off limits.

We believe this is another body blow to the ailing green industry, as Washington taps a source of energy with huge potential returns. Moreover, president-elect Obama has hedged his bets on oil shale - perhaps surprising many green advocates.

On October 27, 2008, Obama told supporters in Denver…

“When it comes to oil shale right now, I think we have to do more research and more science to discover whether or not the amount of oil that would be generated would justify what would inevitably be some disruption of the landscape here in Colorado…Colorado is blessed with a lot of natural resources.”

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Article Source Various individuals have argued for drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) as a means to affect the price of oil. This is true despite this recent assessment by the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration, the Federal Government's nonpartisan analytical group on energy issues. From Annual Energy Outlook related analyses (June 2007): The OCS is estimated to contain substantial resources of crude oil and natural gas; however, some areas of the OCS are subject to drilling restrictions. With energy prices rising over the past several years, there has been increased interest in the development of more domestic oil and natural gas supply, including OCS resources. In the past, Federal efforts to encourage exploration and development activities in the deep waters of the OCS have been limited primarily to regulations that would reduce royalty payments by lease holders. More recently, the States of Alaska and Virginia have ...