Historically , congress has enacted bans in in offshore drilling along pacific and atlantic coasts due to environmental concerns and impact on tourism industry.Now the US senate has voted to open waters off the atlantic and pacific coasts to oil and gas drilling.The purpose of this legislation is however not clear as it allows for drilling in areas 50 miles away from sea, into areas that contain just 5 % of the estimated reserves.Even this drilling is subject to coastal states agreement which may not be very forthcoming as this legislation does not give them any share from royalty earned by energy production.
