Pioneer Editorial: Oil drilling will frame compromise

Bemidji Pioneer

As soon as Congress returns from its current recess, it should pass energy legislation that includes allowing drilling in formerly banned coastal areas — not that the drilling in itself will lower prices at the pump but that it is a necessary action to achieve compromise and pass a bill.

That compromise came a step closer on Tuesday as the Senate Gang of 10 grew to Gang of 16.

Three Democrats and three Republicans joined the bipartisan group in backing a bill that would lift a ban on oil and natural gas drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and off the southeastern U.S. coast, invest $20 billion in the development of petroleum-free motor vehicles and extend tax credits for renewable energy. It still would not lift the ban on the entire Atlantic and Pacific coasts, or from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which the Bush administration and other Senate Republicans seek.

The Group of 16 now includes Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., who told the Pioneer earlier this month that he intended to join the group to find compromise.