Gang of 10/16/20 breaking up?

(By Ed Morrissey, Hot Air) - After the House passed the energy bill that doesn’t actually allow oil companies to drill where the oil is, one might expect the so-called Gang of 10-20 in the Senate to quickly pass the Nancy Pelosi-approved bill. Comments coming from a few of the Gang-sters appear to indicate that drilling bells are breaking up that ol’ gang of theirs. The energy bill fight may not yet be over.

First, the passage of the non-energy energy bill, as reported by the Washington Post:

The House approved a package of energy initiatives yesterday, including measures that would allow oil drilling as close as 50 miles off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and finance the long-term development of alternative energy sources.

In the first substantive votes since gasoline prices rose above $4 a gallon this summer, the House divided largely along party lines, 236 to 189, with most Republicans rejecting the Democratic-sponsored legislation because it would prohibit exploration of much of the known oil reserves closer to the coasts and in the Gulf of Mexico.

As they reversed their long-held opposition to more offshore oil exploration, Democrats said the increased taxes on oil companies in the bill and the collection of royalty payments from the drilling would yield billions of dollars to help finance the development of cleaner, renewable energy sources.

“We’re not trying to give incentives to drill, we’re giving incentives to invest in renewables and natural gas that will take us where we need to go,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) told reporters before the vote.