Lamar Alexander

WASHINGTON — All week long, Republicans in Congress — including those from Tennessee and Georgia — have hammered their Democratic colleagues for their opposition on environmental grounds to drilling for oil off the nation’s coastlines.

In floor speeches, news conferences and appearances at energy-related events, local Republicans have been outspoken in their support for offshore drilling, saying it would help satisfy the country’s demand for oil while research on alternative fuels continues.

“Our friends on the Democratic side seem to have forgotten half of the law of supply and demand,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. “We have to find more, as well as use less. Republicans are ready to do both. Democrats are not. They’re not willing to find more oil.”

Democrats, however, siding with environmentalists, say the drilling would produce only small amounts of oil, and they prefer to tout conservation strategies instead.

“Despite what President Bush, John McCain and their friends in the oil industry claim, we cannot drill our way out of this problem,” said Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. “They want to feed our addiction to oil; Democrats want to end it.”

Both parties have seized onto $4-a-gallon gas as a major talking point, with the election less than five months away.

In making their stand for offshore drilling, Republicans are siding with President Bush and presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain, who in recent days also have called for ending a ban on the practice.

Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has said he opposes offshore drilling.

Chris Ford, with the Tennessee Conservation Voters, said any oil output from offshore drilling would take a minimum of 10 years to reach the market. His organization met with several Tennessee lawmakers in Washington this week, including Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn., to discuss environmental issues.

“We’re concerned about gas prices, but offshore drilling isn’t necessarily going to provide the benefits that people say it will,” Mr. Ford said.

But Sen. Corker said drilling could help provide a bridge in energy supply until alternative fuels become viable. He has noted that Republican Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., who formerly opposed opening up Florida’s coasts to oil exploration, now are more receptive to the idea.

“Freeing up domestic oil production in the U.S. will send an important signal to the markets and should be part of our efforts to move our country toward energy security,” Sen. Corker said.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., twice in recent weeks has taken to the Senate floor to read letters from his constituents about rising gas prices.

“There is nothing that I want that would in any way endanger the pristine beaches in my state or the coastal regions of any other state, but we now have the technology in place to ensure that never happens,” he said.

Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., in a recent e-mail that he sent to media outlets, wrote that Democrats are hurting the American economy by not allowing domestic oil production.

“We need representatives in Congress who will vote for more energy supply,” he wrote. “Americans know we can solve the problem of high gas prices, but we have to decide that we’re serious about doing it and increase the supply of U.S. energy.”

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