Bush lifts symbolic oil drilling ban

WASHINGTON, July 14 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush Monday rescinded an executive order banning new offshore oil drilling, saying Congress also should act to allow it.

Bush's largely symbolic Rose Garden gesture came as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has introduced a bill to open territorial waters 50 miles offshore to exploration, has started negotiations with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., The Washington Post reported.

Reid, however, later Monday rejected the idea, saying he will not allow the measure to come up for a vote, The Hill reported.

Americans "are saying loud and clear" they favor oil exploration to reduce the price of gasoline, McConnell said.

Presidential candidates Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and John McCain, R-Ariz., are split on the issue. Obama is holding to his claim that further offshore drilling won't reduce the price of gasoline.

McCain reversed his earlier position and favors the proposal, saying last month "we have untapped oil reserves of at least 21 billion barrels of oil in the United States."

The U.S. Geological Survey estimates there are "conventionally recoverable resources" of about 17.8 billion barrels that have yet to be discovered, the Post reported.