Goodlatte: Oil compromise closer

Rep. Bob Goodlatte told Lynchburg business and community leaders Wednesday that he expects the House of Representatives will debate an energy bill and offshore drilling during the short period it’s in session in September.

Goodlatte said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may yield to public pressure and allow a bill cosponsored by Democratic and Republican members to come up on the House floor.

The bill is popularly known as the “all of the above” bill, Goodlatte said, because it includes the “drill here, drill now” proposal from Republicans along with measures for alternative energy and a comprehensive national energy

policy.

One of the debate topics is likely to be an expiring moratorium against drilling for shale oil in Colorado and other western states. The moratorium is routinely extended each year, Goodlatte said, but opposition to that extension “will be highlighted this year,” he said.

Shale oil in the West is believed to exceed a 1-trillion barrel reserve, Goodlatte said. The oil would be costly to extract because the process requires large amounts of electricity and water, both of which are scarce in the West.

Goodlatte said the price of oil, plus new technology, makes shale oil an increasingly likely source of energy.

Jim Hudgins of Bedford County asked Goodlatte how the energy bill can get to the House floor in the face of majority Democrats’ opposition.

“The one way we can do it is through the public,” Goodlatte said. He encouraged the business leaders to contact congressional representatives and urge their support for the legislation.

Goodlatte said his meeting with the community leaders for a downtown Lynchburg lunch had been planned long before Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama scheduled a campaign stop in Lynchburg on the same day.

“This is a bipartisan official government event,” Goodlatte said, and the audience included some local Democrats.