Drilling

The right of Texaco Inc. to look for gas or oil in Southern Maryland was upheld yesterday by a state Circuit Court judge, despite the objections of environmentalists who fear oil production could harm the Chesapeake Bay.Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Warren B. Duckett Jr. threw out a lawsuit that had been filed by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and four of its members challenging Texaco's state permit to drill a 10,000-foot-deep exploratory well near...

WASHINGTON -- The Senate approved yesterday a far-reaching measure that would trim spending for Medicare, Medicaid and other domestic benefit programs, to save $35 billion over five years, and allow oil and gas drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The House, meanwhile, moved closer to a floor vote - probably next week - on a version of the budget bill that would cut $54 billion over the next five years. The differences between the two bills extend beyond dollars. While the Senate's cuts would affect mostly providers of federal benefits, such as pharmacies and drug companies, the House bill would trim the rolls of recipients, notably those receiving Medicaid benefits, food stamps and farm subsidies.

Both major-party candidates for governor of Virginia say they support ending a federal moratorium on exploratory gas and oil drilling along the Atlantic coast, a move that environmentalists warn could pollute beaches in Maryland and elsewhere. Congress has been debating an end to a quarter-century ban on Atlantic coast drilling to help lower natural gas prices that had been soaring even before hurricanes smashed Gulf Coast wells. During a debate Sunday night in Richmond, Virginia's Republican candidate for governor, Jerry W. Kilgore, and Democrat Timothy M. Kaine both said the industry should be allowed to explore for gas off the coast.

WASHINGTON -- Jittery about voters' sour mood over high gasoline prices less than six months before congressional elections, the Republican-controlled House passed an old favorite yesterday: legislation seeking to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. The measure, approved by a vote of 225-201, faces long odds in the Senate, where it has been blocked repeatedly by filibusters. A Senate GOP aide called the measure "DOA" in that chamber. But House Republicans wanted to return to their districts for Memorial Day able to say they had acted on energy legislation before the summer vacation season begins.

WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans have agreed on legislation that would open four times more of the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling than the Bush administration was seeking, and a vote on the bill is expected this week. The bill is the Senate's only energy measure with a chance to pass this year and would open 8.3 million acres of the Gulf to new drilling for oil and natural gas. The bill is more ambitious than the administration's plan to open 2 million acres for a five-year period, starting in 2007.

LA PLATA -- Texaco Inc.'s plan to drill for natural gas or oil in Southern Maryland is drawing fire from environmentalists, who question the company's assurances that its well poses no threat to Chesapeake Bay or the environment.About 45 people, most of them armed with complaints and skepticism, came to the Bel Alton fire house last night for a public hearing on Texaco's request for a state permit to sink a 10,000-foot-deep exploratory well near Faulkner in Charles County.Company officials outlined the safeguards they planned to prevent any oil or other pollutants from spilling into Popes Creek, a tributary of the Potomac River about 2,000 feet from the proposed drilling site.

Scientists are rethinking their theories about the Chesapeake Bay impact crater after they drilled deeper into it than ever before and found something unexpected: a huge slab of granite. Over several months, crews penetrated 5,795 feet at a site about five miles north of Cape Charles, Va. They're trying to piece together what happened 35 million years ago, when a meteorite smashed into what is now the mouth of the bay. The mile-wide meteorite incinerated everything in its path and created a tsunami when it splashed into the sea, leaving a hole the size of Rhode Island.

President Bush has signed a law that will protect a scenic 102,000-acre valley in New Mexico's Carson National Forest from a proposal to drill more than 500 natural gas wells. The Valle Vidal, or "Valley of Life," was the focus of a story in The Sun last year that described how liberal environmentalists had joined conservative hunters to fight the drilling plan by the Houston-based El Paso natural gas company. "The Valle Vidal victory should lead to a waterfall of public lands protections from oil and gas development throughout the West," said Jim O'Donnell, outreach coordinator with an environmental group called the Coalition for the Valle Vidal.

A leading state senator said yesterday that he may seek legislation to remove obstacles to natural gas drilling in Maryland, after hearing a witness describe the regulatory "black hole" that has stymied her company for eight years. Sen. Thomas L. Bromwell, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said a de facto freeze on gas drilling permits may have been the unintended consequence of legislation the General Assembly adopted in 1988 after the oil spill caused by the Exxon Valdez running aground off Alaska.

LONDON - One of the largest oil companies in the world, Royal Dutch/Shell, has promised to avoid exploring or drilling on sites that carry the United Nations' World Heritage designation. It is the first energy company to make such a promise. Shell's decision comes a week after the International Council on Mining and Metals, a group of the world's 15 largest mining companies, said its members would stop exploring or mining on World Heritage sites. Taken together, the commitments are a "big step forward," said Mechtild Rossler, director of European heritage for UNESCO, the U.N. agency that controls the program.