By Coral Davenport, CQ Staff

House Democratic leaders unveiled an energy package Wednesday that would authorize coastal states to permit oil and gas drilling 50 miles offshore, in a major concession designed to prevent defections by moderate members of the caucus.

Key lawmakers also said the spending resolution to keep the government operating into the new fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, will not include a moratorium on expanded drilling. It would be the first time since 1982 that the statutory ban has not been included in appropriations legislation.

The energy legislation, which leaders hope to bring to the House floor next week, is a significant shift in direction by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., and other Democratic leaders, who spent weeks resisting Republican calls for a broad expansion of offshore drilling. Democratic leaders initially hoped to restrict the new areas open to drilling to Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia and a section of the eastern Gulf of Mexico. But with Republicans turning the issue to their political advantage, moderate Democrats, including those from oil-producing states, sought a less restrictive expansion of offshore drilling.

With the federal government facing a potential shutdown Oct. 1 unless Congress passes a continuing resolution to extend spending, drilling advocates had leverage over the House leaders. If moderate Democrats joined Republicans in voting against a spending resolution that included the drilling moratorium, Pelosi and the Democrats faced the prospects of a major political defeat just weeks before congressional elections.

California Democrats, traditionally the most ardent opponents of offshore drilling, sounded resigned to the proposal, in part because they doubt their state would ever choose to allow drilling off its beaches. For California to make a change in its law, a vote by referendum would be necessary.

“The opt-in language is critical because it sets a high standard,” said Rep. Anna G. Eshoo , D-Calif. “The legislature and the people will have to be engaged in making the decision. The environment is the deepest and broadest value in my district.”

Eshoo, a member of Pelosi’s inner circle whose district is south of San Francisco, said the end of the federal moratorium might be the price that has to be paid to get a broad-based, forward-looking energy bill. “People are demanding changes for the long term,” she said. “We must shape a policy to get to all available energy sources, so it needs to be a broad package.’’

Rep. Mike Thompson , D-Calif., whose coastal district extends hundreds of miles from north of San Francisco to the Oregon border, said allowing the moratorium to expire Oct. 30 is acceptable “if we can do an opt-in.”

He said it’s clear the moratorium is coming to an end. “There are not the favorable votes to keep the moratorium,’’ he said.

Republicans could barely contain their gloating.

“I think that’s great news,” said Rep. Virginia Foxx , R-N.C., who was part of an unusual August protest staged by House Republicans demanding that Democrats return to Washington for a drilling vote. “We feel vindicated for what we did in August. I think it shows that what we did had an effect.”

She said the Democratic concession reflects recent Republican gains in the polls. “I think they’re getting desperate,” she said.

However, Republicans criticized the draft legislation for leaving out language allowing coastal states to share the revenue from royalties paid by oil companies to drill off their shores.