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The U.S. offshore drilling debate is an ongoing debate in the United States on whether or not offshore drilling should be allowed for new wells off the coast of the U.S. The issue saw increased coverage when President George W. Bush in July 2008 lifted a 1990 executive order by George H. W. Bush banning offshore drilling, while at the same time calling for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The issue of offshore drilling became central in the 2008 presidential election, not least because of the oil price increases since 2003. It is also being debated in terms of both environmental issues and U.S. energy independence. As of September 2008, President Barack Obama is for limited offshore drilling as part of an extensive energy independence overhaul.〔 Bush's energy policy was named "drill and veto" by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Drill Responsibly in Leased Lands (DRILL) Act (H.R. 6515) is one of the bills discussed in the Congress about drilling.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://speaker.gov/issues?id=0031#13 )〕 In Florida, many counties, cities, chambers of commerce, and other local agencies have passed resolutions against oil drilling in Florida waters.〔Map of Resolutions Passed Against Offshore Oil Drilling in Florida http://www.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=106172446447503097421.000480838fe1fe5d92709&z=6〕 On March 31, 2010, President Obama announced that he was opening new areas in U.S. coastal waters to offshore drilling for gas and oil. This was in stark contrast to his reaction only a few weeks later to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that has become the largest offshore oil spill in United States history. In November 2010, the Obama administration rescinded the decision to open new areas. ==Background== As interpreted by the federal courts, the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution gives the federal government certain regulatory power over "navigable waters" of the United States. The Submerged Lands Act of 1953 and Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953, along with the 1960 Supreme Court decision in ''United States v. States of Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida'', divided ownership of the tidelands of the United States between state and federal governments. States own the sea and seabed out to , except Texas and Florida which own out to . The federal government owns the remainder of the territorial waters. The 28 January 1969 blowout at a Unocal rig, which spilled of petroleum off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, resulted in drilling bans in offshore California and Florida. Offshore drilling has continued in offshore Texas and Louisiana. In 2006, an area in the Gulf of Mexico known as lease 181 was opened for exploration.〔 The existing moratorium on leasing on the Outer Continental Shelf expires in 2012, and the debate is on whether or not to extend it. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「United States offshore drilling debate」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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