US President George W. Bush on Wednesday urged Congress to lift a decades-old ban on offshore oil drilling to reduce dependence on foreign imports and offset sky-high energy prices.

Calling the federal ban "outdated and counterproductive," Bush asked the Democratic-controlled Congress to take action to expand access to the nation's Outer Continental Shelf.

"Congress must face a hard reality. Unless members are willing to accept gas (gasoline) prices at today's painful levels or even higher, our nation must produce more oil, and we must start now," Bush said in a news conference in the White House Rose Garden.

Faced with a public outcry over soaring gasoline prices, Bush said Congress should lift or modify its ban for the entire outer continental shelf, then he would lift his executive directive.

It would be up to individual states to decide whether to allow offshore drilling.

With global crude prices at nearly 140 dollars a barrel, US gasoline prices now average more than four dollars a gallon (3.78 liters), a rise of one dollar from a year ago.

Nearly 80 percent of respondents to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll said soaring pump prices were causing them financial hardship, which the Post said was the highest figure in surveys this decade.

Bush chastised Congress for blocking his Republican administration's efforts to boost domestic oil production, and called on lawmakers to increase access to the Outer Continental Shelf, citing experts who say access the OCS could produce about 18 billion barrels of oil.

"That would be enough to match America's current oil production for almost 10 years," he said.

Under the 1981 federal moratorium, states are prohibited from allowing offshore oil and gas drilling and exploration, protecting virtually the entire Atlantic and Pacific coastlines and sections of the Gulf of Mexico.

Critics of lifting the drilling moratorium say it would jeopardize the environment and that production would take years to get up and running, and thus is not a realistic answer to the current supply crunch.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said he wanted no drilling off his state's lengthy portion of the US west coast, and urged the country to move away from its dependence on oil.

"California's coastline is an international treasure. I do not support lifting this moratorium on new oil drilling off our coast," Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

"We are in this situation because of our dependence on traditional petroleum-based oil. The direction our nation needs to go in, and where California is already headed, is toward greater innovation in new technologies and new fuel choices for consumers."

Bush cited the nation's dramatic shift to dependence on oil imports in recent decades as an economic and security risk.

"Some of that energy comes from unstable regions and unfriendly regimes. This makes us more vulnerable to supply shocks and price spikes beyond our control, and that puts both our economy and our security at risk," he said.

Bush's call for offshore drilling backed a similar policy statement from the presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Tuesday.

The president also urged Congress to allow exploration in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which McCain, unlike most Republicans, opposes.

With the widely expected announcement, Bush inserted himself directly into the election year debate over painful energy prices and environmental protection.

McCain has drawn the ire of environmentalists and his presumed Democratic rival Barack Obama over his proposal to lift the ban on offshore drilling.

"We need to encourage production in ways that are consistent with sensible standards of environmental protection," McCain said in a speech in Missouri, broadening the debate by calling for the construction of 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030.

Democratic Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill said McCain was "shilling for Saudi Arabia" with his campaign proposals on energy policy.

"If he were being scored, he would get a 10 for the execution of his flip-flop. He's folded under the pressure of Big Oil," she told reporters in a conference call on behalf of the Obama campaign.

Obama is pushing for a "windfall tax" on oil companies' record profits and for federal investment of 150 billion dollars over 10 years in renewable and green energies.