July 31 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush scolded Congress for a third straight day for refusing to vote on measures that would expand domestic oil drilling and exploration.

``I'd rather be buying our oil from U.S. producers than sending our money overseas,,'' said Bush in a speech to the West Virginia Coal Association at The Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs.

Bush, speaking to 450 coal mine operators and company executives, discussed other energy sources -- wind, nuclear, ethanol, and coal, the mineral that already provides about 50 percent of all U.S. electricity.

Still, he returned to his theme that lawmakers, before leaving for summer recess this weekend, must vote to lift restrictions on offshore drilling, tapping vast oil reserves in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and developing oil-shale sources in the Rocky Mountain states.

Bush said he called for lifting drilling restrictions six weeks ago, and ``the Democratic leaders haven't done anything.''

The U.S. Interior Department estimates the areas now off- limits may hold 17.8 billion barrels of oil.

Democrats say Bush's plan would endanger the environment and other options are available. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has challenged the president to tap the Strategic petroleum Reserve and has pressed oil companies to drill on 68 million acres of federal land they already lease from the government.

Polls this year have shown more public support for expanded domestic oil exploration as the price of gasoline has jumped. With Congress unlikely to agree on an energy plan, Republicans are making clear drilling will be a pivotal topic in the election campaign.

`Politics'

Surveys also show Democrats may win more seats in Congress in November, leaving little incentive to compromise. Republicans in the Senate have been blocking action until they get a vote on more drilling. The result is an election-year stalemate.

``This is politics, and Republicans have found an issue'' said Kevin Book, an energy analyst at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, parent of FBR Capital Markets, in Arlington, Virginia. ``Democrats are unlikely to open the Outer Continental Shelf and therefore this issue gets nowhere.''

West Virginia, the second-largest coal-producing state after Wyoming, benefits from clean-coal technology, Bush said. He said the U.S. must make greater use of coal, nuclear power and other alternative sources such as wind and solar energy.

The West Virginia Coal Association, a trade group that represents such companies as Peabody Energy Corp. and Arch Coal Inc. that produce most of the coal in the state, according to the group's Web site.

To contact the reporter on this story: Roger Runningen in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, at rrunningen@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 31, 2008 11:15 EDT