What has been learned over the last five years is that sands that are holding large hydrocarbon deposits at 30, 000 feet offshore on the shelf, can be reached at shallower depths onshore.
The House is considering legislation that would end the federal moratorium on offshore drilling along much of the Outer Continental Shelf (excluding certain environmentally and politically sensitive stretches of Florida and Alaska).
Despite Pelosi and the Democratic leadership opposing efforts to repeal a 1981 law barring most offshore drilling, the Senate group said its plan probably would allow offshore drilling in new areas of the outer continental shelf.