As world competition for dwindling oil supplies intensifies, it's clear that America needs a new, comprehensive energy policy. Certainly now more than ever.

Congress is working under the gun to produce a bipartisan agreement before Sept. 26, when the House is scheduled to adjourn. For better or worse, it appears that partially lifting the moratorium on new offshore oil and gas drilling will be the compromise that moves this policy forward.

Fair enough. It's certainly better than the alternative: the Oct. 1 expiration of the moratorium, which would allow drilling as close as three miles from coastlines.

While a comprehensive energy policy can make room for more drilling, its primary focus should be to move the U.S. away from its unhealthy dependence on fossil fuels.

Regardless of how much of the outer continental shelf is opened up, more drilling will not provide long-term relief from high gas prices. And the degree to which it could wean the U.S. from its over-reliance on foreign oil remains uncertain.

A sensible policy should include a well-funded commitment to developing renewable sources of energy. It should promote energy efficiency and conservation, which can save far more oil than will come out of new wells. These efforts can help protect the U.S. from the vagaries of international oil markets and safeguard our environment as well.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is promoting a bill that comes close. The bill would restrict drilling to 50 miles or farther offshore. It requires states to approve drilling between 50 and 100 miles. States would get no part of leasing or drilling revenues; the money, along with about $18 billion in tax incentives now enjoyed by oil companies, would be used to promote energy efficiency and renewable-energy projects.

The bill extends tax credits for alternatives such as solar, biomass, geothermal, hydropower, landfill gas, solid waste and wind, as well as plug-in hybrid cars.

It also establishes standards for states and utilities to generate more electricity from renewable sources.

It's a compromise that builds on the bipartisan efforts of Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, and Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa. Their plan would have opened up drilling 25 miles offshore, and given states a cut of the revenue — answering the current bill's critics, who complained about the lack of financial incentives for coastal states and the closing off of nearer-to-shore coastal areas, which are believed to contain the richest oil reserves.

To his credit, Abercrombie publicly accepts Pelosi's compromise as a way to keep things moving.

America needs a sensible, forward-looking energy policy. A political compromise that includes drilling may be necessary to get one. But the policy shouldn't give oil companies the lion's share of our long-term energy future. There's a better way.