Gas prices still too high

Gas prices are falling amid recent concerns about the U.S. and global economy. However, consumers are still paying significantly more at the pump than they did a year ago.

That could affect the Nov. 4 presidential election.

As candidates John McCain and Barack Obama debate, the issue of offshore oil drilling — and what it means to gas prices — has taken prominence during the campaign season.

In September, Congress passed a bill to open new areas of the Outer Continental Shelf to oil and gas drilling and devote a large share of the royalties to developing renewable fuels.

The bill would permit drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific shores.

McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, supported ending the federal moratorium on drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf. He dropped his former opposition to such drilling, and touts the strategy on his campaign Web site.

Obama, the Democratic nominee, dropped his opposition to additional offshore drilling more recently than McCain did and is less enthusiastic about it than McCain.

Researchers differ

The Herald News contacted two not-for-profit organizations — neither of which endorses a candidate — for views on offshore drilling.

The Institute for Energy Research, based in Washington, sees potential benefits in offshore drilling.

"Our position is that the government should repeal, and it has repealed, the ban on offshore production, and produce more energy here at home," said Brian Kennedy, spokesman for the institute. "It makes sense, in today's global economy, with the pressures that are being placed on supplies abroad, to produce that energy so we stimulate our economy, and create jobs, and lower prices for consumers."

A bipartisan poll conducted for the institute shows that 65 percent of respondents favor Congress allowing the ban to expire.

On the opposite side, the Southern Environmental Law Center opposes offshore drilling, saying it would take too long — a decade — to obtain too little oil in the case of the Atlantic Coast. And the environmental risk is significant, a spokesman said.

"The estimates of the Bush administration suggest that there just isn't that much out there off the coast of the Atlantic," said Chris DeScherer, of the Charlottesville, Va.-based organization.

"We have about 3.8 billion barrels off the coast of the Atlantic, and even if all of that was recovered, it would translate to about six months of oil consumption in the United States," he said.

But Kennedy saud bureaucratic and litigation processes could be streamlined so the timeframe is not that severe. He mentioned the trans-Alaska pipeline, which was authorized in 1973 and completed in 1977.

DeScherer said streamlining the process would ensure that the coastline in his area would suffer damage to natural resources — along with damage to the tourism and commercial fishing economies.

Visit www.instituteforenergyresearch.org and www.southernenvironment.org for more information.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

This four-part series examines the issues taking the spotlight in the 2008 presidential election: the economy, health care, the war in Iraq and energy. Each day, experts will discuss the issue, the platforms of Obama and McCain will be outlined, and local readers will give their opinions.
• Sunday: The economy
• Monday: Health care
• Tuesday: The Iraq war
• Wednesday: Energy