Boxer still opposes lifting offshore oil drilling moratorium

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Aug 5, 2008 | by Josh Richman

EMERYVILLE -- U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama don't quite see eye-to-eye on offshore oil drilling, she said Tuesday.

Boxer, D-Calif., said she understands that, as a presidential candidate, Obama would want "to have a far-reaching energy policy" and that "he'd be willing to accept this kind of drilling "... if it means he can get the votes in the Senate" for a broader energy plan including tighter vehicle fuel-efficiency standards and alternative energy sources, even if he thinks the new drilling is ill-advised.

But as chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, she wants the moratorium on new offshore exploration and drilling left in place, she told MediaNews as she wrapped up a visit to a biotech company.

"I think it's just frankly a sop to the big oil companies," she said of lifting the moratorium. "And they're not part of the solution, they're part of the problem."

Boxer moments earlier had presented a "Conservation Champion Award" to executives at Amyris Biotechnologies Inc., which is finding ways to produce biofuel by having genetically-engineered microbes feed on renewable sources such as sugarcane and cellulose- heavy crops. It hopes to introduce a renewable, microbially derived diesel fuel as early as 2010. The company also is involved in a project to use its microbes in a cheaper process to produce a key ingredient in anti-malaria treatment.

"I wasn't great at chemistry when I was in college, I have to admit it, but I'm glad you all are," Boxer told more than 100 Amyris employees, expressing her admiration for a technique that can produce medicine as well as fuel.

Most Americans don't realize how malaria continues to devastate sub-Saharan Africa, she said.

"People are suffering, and you have to feel so good that, right here, you're figuring out a way to treat people in an affordable way," she said.

Drilling in offshore areas now protected by the moratorium, she told the crowd, is "ridiculous; it's false on its face" to claim this would lower gas prices in the short term or significantly improve the nation's energy outlook in the long term. Clean biofuels must be part of the real solution, she told the employees, "and you're playing a role in part of that comprehensive plan."

Boxer said Tuesday that a new, bipartisan Senate energy package would lift the moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico and let Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia allow exploration if they choose, but wouldn't affect California. Still, she said, she'll keep pushing "use it or lose it" legislation -- requiring oil companies to either actively develop or give up onshore and offshore oil leases they already hold -- rather than widening any offshore exploration and drilling boundaries.

Reach Josh Richman at 510-208-6428 or jrichman@bayareanewsgroup.com.