Tell Harry Reid: Don't cave on offshore drilling.

On Tuesday, September 16th, House Democrats reversed the position they've held for 26 years. They voted to allow offshore oil drilling.

The House "compromise" bill will now come up for a vote in the Senate. As if this bill weren't bad enough, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has stated that he will also allow a vote on a Republican bill that allows even more drilling than the House approved.

Several Democrats are championing better bills in the Senate. Majority Leader Reid should bring these stronger bills up for a vote before caving to pro-drilling Republicans. Even if the Senate eventually caves, we need to put Senators on the record so their constituents can hold them accountable for opposing the moratorium on offshore drilling.

Allowing offshore drilling lines the oil companies' pockets and harms our environment, but, as this chart from Architecture2030.org illustrates, it wouldn't bring a drop of new oil for years to come, let alone in time to provide relief for the current gas price crisis.

The bill the House passed, the Comprehensive American Energy Security and Consumer Protection Act (HR 6899), would allow oil companies to drill 50 miles off our coast if states allow them to, and 100 miles off our coast whether states allow it or not.

HR 6899 does a lot of great things like rolling back $18 billion worth of tax breaks for oil companies and providing more money to develop wind and solar energy. (That's probably why President Bush has already threatened a veto - making the offshore drilling capitulation even more laughably weak.) Some Senate Democrats have recognized this, and want to pass an alternate version of the bill with weaker drilling provisions - or, better yet, with no drilling at all.

But will those alternate proposals ever come to a vote? That's up to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Please sign this petition today to tell Senator Reid NOT to allow a vote on any proposal that would expand offshore drilling until he allows one on the best proposals we have to protect our coasts.

Sign the petition

"Senator Reid, the Senate must vote on proposals that would strip the Comprehensive American Energy Security and Consumer Protection Act of its offshore oil drilling provisions before caving in to big oil. Scientists and economists have given you every reason to believe that offshore drilling is nothing more than a political ploy that would harm our environment and line oil companies' pockets without providing any gas price relief till 2014 at the earliest - if then! As a citizen, I am disappointed that the House voted to include offshore drilling in HR 6899. I am counting on you to give the Senate a chance to vote to scale these provisions back or vote them out of the bill altogether. Anti-drilling forces must make their voices heard before you allow a vote on pro-drilling legislation."

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