RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Sen. Elizabeth Dole has changed her stance on oil exploration off the North Carolina coast.

Dole said in a statement to The Associated Press on Wednesday that she supports lifting a moratorium that has prohibited
exploration off the Atlantic coast. The Republican senator had long supported the moratorium, saying it was necessary to protect tourism and marine habitat.

Related Post: Dole, Hagan On Offshore Drilling

But as gas prices have passed $4 a gallon, Dole has increasingly softened her stance on offshore exploration. She said at a forum last week that she still opposed the idea but would give it consideration if a measure came across her desk.

Dole said the option should be available to states so long as the exploration is safe, clean and not visible from land.

Dole’s opponent in the November race for Senator, Kay Hagan, released the following statement through her spokeswoman Thursday:

“While Senator Dole flip-flops and endorses the George Bush/John McCain way of doing business, Kay is committed to lowering gas prices in the short-term by taking oil speculators out of the equation and halting deposits into the strategic petroleum reserve, and she has proposed a longer-term solution that actually ends our dependence on oil and moves North Carolina and our country forward. The plan to drill off North Carolina’s coast is just another in a long line of bright ideas concocted and supported by the Bush-Dole team to pad the profits and the pockets of their oil-producing friends.

“In an election year, it’s no wonder Senator Dole is running from gas prices that are pushing $5 a gallon, pushing a faux plan that will do nothing to lower our gas prices in the short-term and will actually do harm to our coastline in the long-term: oil companies and their lobbyists have too much power in Washington, and that’s because politicians like Senator Dole have given it to them.”

Congressman David Price (D-NC) issued his opinion Thursday about the issue:
“The President, Senator McCain and their Republican allies are offering false hopes when they claim that allowing drilling off the Atlantic coast will provide relief at the pump.  It’s simply not true.  We cannot drill our way to energy independence or lower gas prices,” Price said. “Economists estimate is that opening up federally protected waters to oil companies would merely shave the price of gas by a few cents per gallon.  And even the oil industry admits that any price benefits wouldn’t reach the market for seven to ten years.  By that time, the pressure on the price of oil from growing demands in China and India will make the impact of the Bush-McCain drilling policy meaningless.”

Price’s statement continued:

“The fact is that 80 percent of the oil available off our coastline is in regions that are already open to leasing, according to the government’s Mineral Management Service.  But the oil companies have so far declined to take advantage of those existing resources.  The notion that opening more coastal waters to drilling will flush the global market with oil and drive down the price of gas is a canard.  And it is worth noting that allowing a neighboring state like Virginia to drill off its coastline does not protect our state’s coast from potential environmental hazards.

“Given the risks to coastal North Carolina and the lack of any economic benefit for hardworking Americans, it would be a grave error to allow drilling off our coast.  Instead, we must encourage serious conservation and the development of alternative fuel sources.  I encourage the President and all my colleagues to support legislation the House passed last August, which would put us on a true path to an energy solution by reversing tax cuts for oil companies in order to invest in renewable and alternative energy, without increasing the budget deficit.  That’s the real way to make a dent in rising gas prices.”