U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree’s effort to block a federal plan to drill offshore for oil and gas has failed on Capitol Hill.
The Interior Department announced last year that it planned to allow exploratory offshore drilling, prompting Pingree to propose a budget amendment that would have blocked the use of any funds appropriated to the agency to implement that plan.
“There is bipartisan opposition [to the plan] from more than 1700 local, state and federal elected officials and an alliance representing over 42,000 businesses and 500,000 fishing families,” Pingree says.
However, the House Appropriations Committee rejected her amendment by a vote of 26 to 20. Opponents say the amendment was too sweeping and would affect current drilling off the shores of Texas and Louisiana.
