Washington - US lawmakers revived a stalled debate about energy on Tuesday and considered comprehensive legislation that would expand oil drilling off US coasts while boosting investment in alternative fuels.

Majority Democrats introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that was touted as a compromise. It allows limited new offshore drilling and offers tax incentives for renewable energy by repealing tax credits for major oil companies.

But on what has been the major sticking point for weeks, minority Republicans in Congress said it did not go nearly far enough in allowing oil companies to drill offshore.

Democrats had supported a long-standing federal moratorium on offshore drilling but caved in, amid surging petrol prices that have made new offshore drilling political popular. The bill only allows drilling between 80 and 160 kilometres off US coasts - a nod to concerns about oil exploration's potential environmental impact.

"Republicans must set aside their drill-only mentality and embrace the provisions of this legislation, which is balanced, which is comprehensive," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, leader of the centre-left Democrats in the lower chamber, told reporters.

Environmental groups slammed the legislation as a capitulation to big oil companies that fails to wean the US economy from its dependence on imported, climate-changing fossil fuels.

We want Congress to make sure that Big Oil doesn't continue to load us up with dirty energy that overshadows the clean, renewable, homegrown solutions Americans need," Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement.

The upper Senate could take up its own version of the energy bill later this week.

Time is running short for an immediate solution. Congress adjourns on September 26 until after the November 4 presidential elections. (dpa)