new drilling in the U.S

[12thMan]

Originally Posted by firstdown

Well then what did this sentence mean.
"In September, the Democratic-controlled House and Senate decided not to renew a separate, congressional moratorium on offshore drilling that had been in place for more than two decades. "

Sounds like congress let the ban run out so it was allready open for drilling.

That statement is correct. Once the current moratorium expires, it won't be renewed but replaced with actual policy reversing the ban. I guess to put it more concretely, it's currently not U.S. policy to drill offshore. Lots of talk, lots of orders, bans and reversals, but no legislation has actually been enacted to permit drilling specifying what regions will be tapped.