For months, it has been inevitable.  $4/gallon gasoline and a bipartisan urge to do "something" about high energy prices made the continuation of a yearly ban on new offshore oil and gas exploration impossible.  And on Tuesday evening, Democrats admitted defeat.

The news was delivered by House Appropriations Committee chairman David Obey (D-WI) as he laid out plans for a temporary budget plan to keep the government running into the new fiscal year.

Democrats knew months ago they didn't have the votes to sustain what's been a yearly renewal of legislative language that prevents the Interior Department from spending money to lease any new offshore areas for oil and gas development.

If it sticks, it's really the end of an era in terms of a story that I have covered for my entire Congressional reporting career.

Back in the 1980's, Democrats in California and Florida first pressed for the yearly offshore drilling ban, and I spent many years charting exactly that for stations in both of those states.

It was a fight some years to get it approved, but even when Republicans took charge of the Congress, they kept the provision (which sort of spreads the wealth over who takes a bit of the blame for our current energy situation.)

For years, there was a bipartisan agreement in states like Florida that the entire Congressional delegation would stand together on the issue.

Then a few years ago, some cracks started to develop.  Rep. John Mica (R-FL) was one of the first to raise the issue of removing the ban, arguing that US energy needs were paramount.

And once gasoline went over the $4/gallon mark, the end was near.  Democrats didn't have the votes to keep the provision in the bill in the Appropriations Committee, let alone on the floor of the U.S. House or Senate.

This fight will continue in the next Congress, but it will be over the rules for drilling offshore, not a provision to block any new exploration.