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Gulf Shores Alabama Guide - online guide to your favourite holiday resort. Comprehensive links to all online resources, and up to date news and information on all new developments within the area.
Senate Clears Way for OffshoreThe Senate cleared the way Monday for legislation that would open 8.3 million protected acres in the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling.Senators voted 72-23 to limit debate, assuring a final vote on the bill later this week before senators depart for the summer recess. The bill's supporters said they have the majority needed to push it through.But a battle loomed with the House, which has approved a bill that would allow drilling far beyond the limited acreage in the central Gulf of Mexico. Negotiations to reconcile the two measures won't begin until September.The House would lift a quarter-century moratorium that has kept 85 percent of the nation's coastal waters off-limits to energy companies from New England to Alaska. Senate Democrats and GOP moderates have vowed to block legislation that would jeopardize the drilling ban along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts.Senate leaders have promised lawmakers from Florida and other coastal states that they would insist a final bill not go beyond the Gulf waters. read more. Senate Leaders Cut Deal on Gulf Coast DevelopmentSenate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) today said he intends to find floor time this month for legislation that represents a negotiated settlement among key Senate figures to expand Gulf of Mexico oil and gas leasing while steering offshore production revenues to Gulf Coast states. Crucially, the deal would give Florida a 125-mile no-drilling buffer zone in many areas through the year 2022. The agreement also opens the eastern Gulf Coast's Lease Sale 181 area and a deepwater tract to its . read more. Senate's could test California's resolve to keep ban(08-02) 04:00 PDT Washington -- The Senate's vote Tuesday to approve oil and gas drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida won't mean construction of new oil and gas rigs off California's beaches anytime soon. But it could pave the way, before long, to drilling off the coast of Virginia. Or Georgia. Or South Carolina. Those states have expressed interest in drilling -- and sharing energy royalties from offshore wells -- and federal lawmakers, facing voters' anger over high energy prices, are warming to the idea. This is precisely what environmentalists fear: The fragile coalition of coastal states that has propped up the federal moratorium on offshore drilling for 25 years could crack under pressure from pro-development forces. Even California, Florida and the Northeast states will be tested in coming years on whether they will continue to block new oil and gas wells off their shores. read more. |
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