In January of last year President Obama announced the Federal Government would open up offshore drilling on the continental along the Atlantic Coast between Georgia and Virginia. See:
5 yrs after the Deepwater Horizon Disaster Obama wants to drill in the Atlantic from Va. to Ga.
This morning President Obama reversed course and canceled his plan to auction off leases for offshore drilling along the Atlantic Coast.
Obama expected to severely limit oil drilling in Arctic and Atlantic
Environmental advocates call president’s reversal an outsize victory after backlash from communities that fear Gulf of Mexico rig disaster could happen
By Suzanne Goldenberg,
The Obama administration promised to protect Atlantic waters for future generations on Tuesday, raising expectations that waters off the US east coast and Alaska would be protected from oil and gas drilling.
The expected decision reverses Barack Obama’s move just last year to open up a vast swath of the Atlantic coast to drilling – and consolidates the president’s efforts to protect the Arctic and fight climate change during his final months in the White House.
The five-year drilling plan, which will be formally announced by the Interior Department, was expected to block immediate prospects of hunting for oil in the Arctic and much of the Atlantic, according to those familiar with the proposals.
The move was widely anticipated after Obama and Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, declared last week they would follow “science-based standards” when it came to sanctioning new oil and gas drilling in the Arctic.
But the plan is also expected to seal off large areas of the Atlantic coast from future exploration, following protests from coastal communities in the Carolinas and Georgia– and that could cause reverberations in the presidential elections.
Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron have been pushing heavily to reopen drilling off the Atlantic coast, and Republicans and some state governors were also in favour.
This reversal removes the most inconsistent element of President Obama’s energy and climate plans. Let’s hope this will put an end to the United States “all of the above” approach to energy production, as we make the long overdue shift toward more sustainable energy sources.
Obama to reject new Atlantic Ocean
By Nathan Bomey
The reversal comes after environmentalists, coastal residents and the U.S. military vocalized opposition to the plan.
It also comes amid declining industry investment in new exploration and production activities as oil prices fell by about 70% since late 2014 — although the industry is still seeking long-term investment opportunities under the assumption that oil prices will recover.
