Pelosi now open to offshore drilling

WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi detailed a new energy bill Saturday that includes offshore oil drilling, a practice she condemned weeks ago.

Pelosi said in preparation for the weekly Democratic Radio Address that potential drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf was included in the new bipartisan bill, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The House speaker said the "bipartisan effort ... will consider opening portions of the Outer Continental Shelf for drilling, with appropriate safeguards."

Sources said the proposal outlined by the California Democrat was based on a prior bipartisan plan that would have allowed officials in East Coast states to determine independently if drilling could occur off their shores.

Pelosi's energy proposal has already been criticized by President George Bush, who opposed an attached proposal for an end to tax breaks for top oil companies.

"The Democratic leadership should bring up a clean bill, give the members a chance to vote up or down on whether or not we should proceed with offshore drilling, and not insert any legislative poison pills," Bush said upon hearing of Pelosi's new stand this week.