Don’t Be Fooled by Obama’s Offshore Drilling Announcement
Nicolas Loris /
President Obama announced today that the administration will open access to waters for offshore drilling in the Atlantic and eastern Gulf of Mexico. While the president should be commended for allowing oil and natural gas exploration and development in untouched water, the devil is in the details. Part of the administration’s proposal is regressive in that it cancels some lease sales that were already pending:
“But it is unlikely to win strong support from the fiercest drilling advocates in Congress and the energy industry, who have accused the administration of slow-walking conventional oil and gas production. They are expected to oppose many of the administration’s decisions — including the cancellation of planned lease sales in Alaska and potentially years-long waits before new drilling along the East Coast.
Administration officials said the blueprint would keep drilling out of Alaska’s Bristol Bay, home to sockeye salmon and endangered whales. And it was expected that Pacific waters along California, Oregon and Washington also would be off-limits. Under revised Interior plan, four pending lease sales in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas north of Alaska would be canceled to allow scientific studies and environmental research before any drilling decisions. A previously scheduled lease sale in Alaska’s Cook Inlet would still go forward.