Even so, Democratic Rep. Norm Dicks of Belfair is in the middle of the intense debate over offshore drilling that has gripped Capitol Hill over the past several weeks.
As chairman of the House Appropriations interior subcommittee, Dicks' jurisdiction includes the 27-year-old moratorium on drilling along what's known as the outer continental shelf.
The Republican effort to eliminate the drilling moratorium, aided by the White House, has disrupted the appropriations process in the House and is a significant issue on the presidential campaign trail.
"This is purely a political matter," Dicks said in an interview last week. He was clearly frustrated that the bill he and his staff had spent weeks developing had suddenly become the flash point between Democrats and Republicans over what to do to calm the public's anger over gasoline prices that have shot well above $4 a gallon.
Since taking control of Congress in January 2007, Republicans say, Democrats have pursued an energy policy that has done nothing to ease the price at the pump. Republicans are calling for increased domestic supplies, including allowing drilling along the outer continental shelf, which is the sloping undersea plain between the continent and the deep ocean. They also want to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refugee and additional federal lands to oil and natural gas drilling.
According to industry estimates, federal lands and offshore areas contain enough recoverable natural gas to meet the heating needs of 60 million households for 160 years, as well as enough oil to produce gasoline to fuel 60 million cars and fuel oil for 3.1 million households for 60 years.
Democrats say 80 percent of the outer continental shelf is already open to leasing. They also say that 68 million acres of land, roughly the size of Colorado, are already under lease but have not been developed, and that "we can't drill our way to energy independence."
They quote the Energy Information Administration, part of the federal Department of Energy as saying offshore drilling wouldn't affect the price at the pump until 2030, and even then the impact would be "insignificant."
"People are desperate for a solution, and this isn't it," Dicks said. "There are thousands of leases that aren't being used. If this is such an emergency, why aren't they using them?"
NOT SO MUCH OIL HERE
Oil and natural gas resources off the Northwest coast are minuscule when compared to Florida and California. A 2001 Interior Department study estimated there might be 2.35 trillion cubic feet of natural gas off Washington and Oregon. The same study estimated there might be 180 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico and 15 trillion cubic feet off California.
Several oil companies expressed an interest in exploring deep-sea areas off the Northwest coast in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Reagan administration, at one point, considered leasing 30,000 acres for exploration and drilling.
"There isn't much interest in Washington state," said Dave Norman, the deputy state geologist. "The Washington coast ranks real low in potential, almost near the bottom."
Norman said exploratory holes and seismic testing off the coast have never found much, even though there have been oil seeps discovered on the west side of the Olympic Peninsula.
In Eastern Washington, three deep holes have been drilled in the Columbia Basin during the past several years, and a new one is being drilled in Klickitat County.
"They haven't found anything, but they are still studying the results," said Norman, adding that the holes have been drilled through 10,000 feet of basalt rock.
Before World War II, there was a field near Rattlesnake Mountain that produced commercial quantities of natural gas, he said.
'A VERY DIFFICULT POLITICAL ISSUE'
The initial moratorium on offshore drilling covered just Washington state and Oregon but was later expanded to cover the entire outer continental shelf, Dicks said.
Republicans have unsuccessfully sought to lift the moratorium over the years. In 2006, the Republican-controlled House voted to ease the ban, but the measure stalled in the Senate. "Oil-patch Democrats" have consistently voted to eliminate the ban, while moderates and Florida Republicans have opposed such a move.
But given the increasing price of gasoline, vote counting has become tricky.
"This is a very difficult political issue for some people," Dicks said.
Earlier this month, presumed Republican presidential nominee John McCain proposed lifting the ban, and President Bush endorsed the idea. McCain previously opposed offshore drilling, as had Bush's brother, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
Presumed Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama opposes lifting the moratorium.
The issue erupted just as Dicks' interior appropriations bill was to be considered by the full House Appropriations Committee.
With the outcome of the vote on the drilling ban uncertain, the bill stalled and was rescheduled for consideration after Congress returns from its Fourth of July recess.
It's unclear whether Democrats have the committee votes to defeat the Republican effort to eliminate the moratorium. "We are counting," Dicks said. "I don't twist arms. I plead with people to do the right thing."
Asked whether he still expected his bill to come up as planned on July 9, Dicks said, "It's still scheduled. But obviously schedules can change."
Last week, Republicans sought to force a vote on the drilling ban by trying to substitute the interior bill for another appropriations bill the committee was considering. Chairman Dave Obey, D-Wis., abruptly adjourned the meeting and warned later that if Republicans persisted, then his committee would put off consideration of all appropriations bills until after the election.
"What they did was a stunt. It was unprecedented in the 32 years I have been in the House," Dicks said. "I have my fingers crossed that we can defeat these amendments and go forward with my bill."
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