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For Immediate Release:
June 28, 2007

Committee Approves OCS Energy Inventory

Also funds a number of Idaho priorities

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Idaho Senator Larry Craig offered an amendment today to the Energy and Water Appropriations bill to fund a seismic inventory of oil and natural gas resources in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The measure was supported by Senator Dorgan, D-N.D., Chairman of the subcommittee with jurisdiction. The language was agreed to on a vote of 17-12.

The inventory, using a non-invasive seismic method, was authorized in 2005 Energy Policy Act (EPACT). Craig said, "Last week, I supported increased conservation of petroleum by increasing CAFE standards. However, the Energy Bill lacked more production - a critical component of decreasing our addiction to foreign oil. The amendment we approved today will allow us to find out what resources are out there without one drill bit entering the Outer Continental Shelf."

The Appropriations Committee also considered the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) and State and Foreign Operations bills. The CJS bill contains a number of projects in Idaho that Craig supports:

• Criminal Information Sharing Alliance Network (Idaho State Police) - $1 million
• Children's Justice/Child Protection Program (Nez Perce Tribe) - $150,000
• Temporal Landscape Change Research Program (ISU) - $500,000
• Improved hydrologic modeling of water resources for snow-dominated regions (BSU) - $250,000
• National Consortium of Offender Management Systems (NCOMS) Sharing Software Development Project (Idaho Department of Corrections) - $100,000
• The Children's Identification and Location Database (CHILD) Project - $100,000
• Idaho participation in the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund (Office of Species Conservation) - $90 million (overall)

During debate on the CJS bill, Senator Shelby, R-Ala., offered an amendment to block the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from releasing firearm trace data to parties other than law enforcement. The data is used by law enforcement to track firearms used in crime and is an important law enforcement tool.

Craig supported the amendment, which was approved by the Committee. He said, "While this is an important tool for law enforcement, anti-gun groups want to use this data to shut down our firearms industry. A strong, bipartisan majority enacted a law to stop frivolous lawsuits against firearm retailers and manufacturers. This language helps us protect the intent of that law."

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