Editorial Calls for an “All of the Above” Energy Approach

• “Republicans who favor allowing offshore drilling and exploration refused to give up the ghost. They've remained in Washington and have been hammering away on drilling each weekday since the recess began. They've been trying to make the point that Pelosi should allow open debate and a vote on the matter, but they've been talking without even the C-Span cameras having been turned on.”

• “We support a comprehensive energy policy that looks across the spectrum, focusing on production and conservation, on alternative and traditional fuels, on today and tomorrow and 10 years down the road.”

Drilling has been getting some buzz, but it's been mostly in the background.

Drilling for oil, that is. Black gold, which might be found offshore along our nation's coasts and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

Just when the issue was getting hot in the U.S. House of Representatives, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., pulled the plug and turned out the lights. She didn't allow a vote on the matter before the House recessed for the month of August.

But some Republicans who favor allowing offshore drilling and exploration refused to give up the ghost. They've remained in Washington and have been hammering away on drilling each weekday since the recess began. They've been trying to make the point that Pelosi should allow open debate and a vote on the matter, but they've been talking without even the C-Span cameras having been turned on.

Still, we've heard what they are saying. And others across the nation have heard, too.

Whether you completely support additional drilling and exploration or wholeheartedly oppose it, the way that Pelosi has been doing business - or not doing business - is not the way to run the people's House. She should let the representatives debate the matter and then bring it to a vote. If the chips don't in the end fall as she would prefer, that's just how it goes. As they say in the NFL, that's why they play the games.

For our part, we support a comprehensive energy policy that looks across the spectrum, focusing on production and conservation, on alternative and traditional fuels, on today and tomorrow and 10 years down the road.

But that's just a dream. What we have today is silence, imposed by the speaker of the House because that's what she wanted. It reminds us of how Newt Gingrich used to operate when he was sitting in the big chair. It was bad when he held the gavel and it's equally bad today.

When the House reopens after Labor Day, Pelosi should loosen her iron grip and let the members do their jobs.

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