By Richard Wolf, USA TODAY
The Obama administration moved Tuesday to open more of the U.S. coast to offshore drilling but stopped short of what some energy exploration advocates wanted.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar proposed opening six offshore areas with active oil leases in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska. The entire West and East Coasts of the continental USA remain out of bounds.
Salazar's plan would allow 15 lease sales over the next five years -- 12 in the Gulf and three off Alaska.
"This five-year program will make available for development more than three-quarters of undiscovered oil and gas resources estimated on the (Outer Continental Shelf), including frontier areas such as the Arctic, where we must proceed cautiously, safely and based on the best science available," Salazar said.
The proposal follows a lengthy moratorium imposed by the administration after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf 18 months ago. It was immediately blasted by Republicans in Congress who want to open far more offshore land.
"Since President Obama took office, he has systematically taken steps to reimpose an offshore drilling moratorium, and today he is one step closer to making that a reality for the next five years," said House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings. The plan "places some of the most promising energy resources in the world off-limits and indefinitely abandons the scheduled lease sale off the coast of Virginia that was supposed to take place last year."
Business groups also opposed the proposal.
"Oil and natural gas production on federal lands continues to decline under this administration, and the new Offshore Oil & Gas Program does not provide much hope that this destructive trend will be reversed anytime soon," said Karen Harbert of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "We are disappointed that the administration is once again forgoing an opportunity to make our energy future more secure and our economy more competitive."
Read the full article here.