Democrats May Be Open to Allowing More Oil Exploration, Journal Says

A key Senate Democrat said he would be open to a compromise with Republicans to allow oil exploration in protected lands and in offshore areas where it is now prohibited, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Speaker of the House called on the Bush administration to open up some of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help alleviate high prices, the paper said.

Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) said that he and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) could support a modest expansion of offshore oil exploration, the Journal said.

But many Democrats remain opposed to opening up more areas to drilling and would require extensive concessions from oil companies in the event of such a deal, the paper reported.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called on the Bush administration to release a “small portion” of the SPR in an effort to help lower soaring prices, the Journal said.

“Releasing oil from the [SPR] is a tool to manage our national and economic security, and when judiciously used will in no way jeopardize national security,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to President Bush.

The Department of Energy estimates that about 75 billion barrels of oil are off limits to development, and that about 21% of that, or 16 billion barrels, is covered by a ban on new offshore drilling, the New York Times reported last month.

President Bush and American Trucking Associations have supported opening more protected U.S. lands to oil exploration, including in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.