Gibbs: accident doesn't change position on drilling

[Enrique]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703709804575202320324530444.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines

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Asked Friday whether Mr. Obama had second thoughts on offshore drilling, Mr. Gibbs said, "No." He added: "We need the increased production. The president still continues to believe the great majority of that can be done safely, securely and without any harm to the environment."

Mr. Gibbs's remarks came as longtime skeptics of offshore drilling in Mr. Obama's party suggested the accident merits increased congressional scrutiny of the oil industry's safety record. Late Thursday, Sen. Bill Nelson (D., Fla.) asked the U.S. Interior Department to investigate and then provide a "comprehensive" report on all U.S. drilling accidents over at least the last decade. Separately, New Jersey Democratic Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez said the accident underscored the need to abandon the "rush" to expand coastline drilling.

"We're not going to let drilling occur anywhere close to Florida," Mr. Nelson said in an interview Friday. He said this week's accident "drives a stake into heart" of legislation pending in the Senate to open areas of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and natural-gas production.

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