Obama Widens Scope of Offshore Oil Drilling

(March 31) -- President Barack Obama announced plans today to open vast new areas of U.S. coastal waters to offshore drilling for oil and gas, a reversal of policy that will please energy companies but is sure to upset environmentalists.

The new areas, subject to extensive preliminary studies, include tracts off the Atlantic coastline and the eastern Gulf of Mexico, as well as nearly 130 million acres in the Arctic Ocean north of Alaska. But drilling will be banned in the area of Bristol Bay in southwestern Alaska, an area unsuccessfully targeted by the George W. Bush administration.

The coastline northward from New Jersey, and the Pacific Coast from Mexico up to Canada, will also remain off bounds, officials who asked not to be identified told reporters.

The plans, presented as a way of reducing dependence on foreign oil and to create new revenue from the sale of leases, were announced by Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. "Drilling alone cannot come close to meeting our long-term energy needs," Obama said in prepared remarks, adding that "for the sake of the planet and our energy independence, we need to begin the transition to cleaner fuels now."

The Atlantic coast tract would cover 167 million acres of ocean from the northern tip of Delaware to the central coast of Florida. An area 50 miles off Virginia could be the first lease to be sold, officials said. No drilling would be allowed within 125 miles of the Florida coastline.

Energy companies have been calling for increased drilling since gasoline prices began to rise in 2008. Although Obama has called for the development of clean energy, he said during his presidential campaign that he supported an increase in offshore drilling. A new energy policy for the U.S. "means making tough decisions about expanding new offshore areas for oil and gas development," he said in his State of the Union address.

The proposals will be open for public comment for several months. Drilling, if it eventually goes ahead, is not expected to begin for years, according to The New York Times.

Opinion was divided on whether the proposals would prove to be a political benefit for the Obama administration. The Times said it is "no sure thing" the plan would win support for a climate bill among senators close to the oil industry.

But Forbes.com energy blogger Christopher Helman called the plan "brilliant politics," saying he expected the White House to demand the support of oil companies for new cap-and-trade carbon legislation after giving them "decades of new oil fields to plunder."

Environmentalists, however, maintain there is very little oil to be found in the offshore areas, the BBC reported, and say the drilling is not worth the risks.

A backlash was also expected from some coastal governors and senators, according to the Times. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger opposes more offshore drilling, his spokesman was quoted as saying by the Chicago Tribune, but he supports expanded drilling off existing platforms for a set period of time.

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