House to vote on drilling this week: Pelosi

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives will vote on an energy package this week that would open the coasts of at least four southeastern states to offshore drilling, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Tuesday.

Expanding offshore drilling has been a point of contention in Congress and a hot button issue on the U.S. campaign trail. House Democrats refused to allow a vote on the issue before the August recess on the grounds the any new drilling needed to be balanced with efforts to promote renewable energy.

"This comprehensive energy legislation is ... the result of serious compromise among Democrats to bring down gas prices and invest in a clean, renewable future," Pelosi told a news conference on Tuesday.

Pelosi said the package would allow drilling in some of the areas proposed in a bipartisan Senate energy bill, including the coasts of Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Virginia. The Senate bill also expands drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

The bill, which has not yet been introduced, also would provide funding for conservation and renewable energy and repeal some tax cuts for the oil industry.

In the Senate, a bipartisan group of Senators is pushing a similar energy package.

Senator John Thune, a South Dakota Republican and a member of the group, told reporters the only energy proposal with a chance to get the 60 votes needed in the Senate was their compromise bill.

"I think it comes down to those who want a solution to those who want an issue" in this year's congressional and presidential campaigns, Thune said.

Republican Presidential hopeful John McCain has made ending the offshore drilling ban a key campaign promise while Barack Obama, the Democratic Presidential nominee, changed his position in favor of limited drilling.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has expressed support for the compromise legislation. He said Monday that the Senate would vote on the compromise package and other drilling proposals next week.

Republicans, who have been pushing to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling completely, voiced skepticism over the energy bills Democrats are offering.

"We want to make very sure that in passing real energy legislation we're talking about real opportunities for more production rather than simply a cover vote," Republican Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona said at a press conference.

On the other side of the Capitol, House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland was doubtful that the closely divided and often gridlocked Senate would approve any energy bill.

"There should be nobody in the country that assumes that things will pass the United States Senate," Hoyer told reporters.

(Additional reporting by Thomas Ferraro; editing by Russell Blinch and David Gregorio)