It is about time!!!

I'm so glad that Senate approved more off-shore drilling, we need more sources of domestic oil:

The Senate voted Tuesday to open 8.3 million acres of federal waters in the central Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling, setting up a confrontation with the House which wants even more drilling in waters now off-limits.

Supporters said the measure would be a major step toward producing more domestic energy and forcing down natural gas prices that have soared in recent years.

The Senate approved the measure by a vote of 71-25. It now must be reconciled with much broader drilling legislation passed by the House in June. Those negotiations are likely to begin in September.

[...]

Broad opposition to the Senate bill began to melt away last week when Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who had threatened to filibuster any offshore drilling legislation, said he would go along given the promise that the Senate would not accept the House measure.

It annoys me that Nelson can block the House's version.

I was surprised to see the vote total: 71-25. Are the environmentalist losing their influence over their Democrats?

And then there's this stupid comment:

At best "this will supply a small amount of gas years from now," said Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., who decried the inability to broaden the legislation beyond drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

Yeah and we would have had the oil sooner if you guys hadn't been blocking this for years. Isn't it ok to do something now that helps our future gas prices? Or do we wait another couple years while you guys fight for political advantage and do nothing?