ATA Backs Increased Offshore Energy Exploration

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merican Trucking Associations said it has asked the Minerals Management Service to expand the area where companies can drill for oil and natural gas along the U.S. coastline.

The action was sought as part of a long-term strategy to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, and to increase national fuel supplies and curb skyrocketing fuel prices, ATA said.

Drilling is now limited to the Central and Western Gulf of Mexico. ATA has requested that MMS, which is part of the Interior Department, expand drilling areas beyond those regions, including acreage off the coast of Alaska.

“We need the ability to explore new, untapped areas for domestic energy supplies,” said ATA President Graves. “The U.S. has an opportunity to improve our energy situation and continue to support economic growth, while providing consumers and businesses with the essential energy they need.”

ATA said the U.S. trucking industry depends on sufficient and affordable diesel fuel supplies to haul 9.8 billion tons of freight every year. Given current fuel prices, the industry is on pace to spend an unprecedented $85 billion on fuel this year, $23 billion more than in 2004, the group said.

The Central and Western Gulf of Mexico supply 30% of the oil produced in the United States and about 20% of the natural gas. Other resource-rich areas, however, are off limits and hold potentially vast domestic energy supplies, ATA said.