Obama to unveil offshore oil drilling plan for Florida, Virginia, Alaska coasts

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will announce new plans to drill for oil and gas off America’s coasts
on Wednesday, a move that is widely expected to open new areas of
coastal Virginia, Alaska and the Eastern Gulf of Mexico for development.

Administration officials said the plan includes no drilling off California, Oregon, Washington, or in Alaska’s Bristol Bay, where Bush administration drilling plans angered environmentalists.

The Eastern Gulf of Mexico leases hinge on Congress
lifting a moratorium on drilling there. Even if the ban is lifted,
officials said Obama’s plan includes no drilling within 125 miles of
the Florida coastline.

The announcement, scheduled for an appearance at Andrews Air Force Base focusing on energy security, will be Obama’s first major policy step into the politically charged area of offshore drilling.

The president is expected to propose plans for new
drilling between now and 2017. The likely scope and details of the
plan, which will cover activity to the year 2017, represents
compromises that risk angering energy companies and environmentalists.

The announcement will come in the run-up to summer driving season, as gas prices have begun a national march toward $3
a gallon, and at a time when the administration is pushing expanded
offshore exploration as a bargaining chip in its attempts to enact
sweeping legislation to curb oil imports and reduce greenhouse gas
emissions.

Energy companies and conservatives have clamored for
increased drilling since gas prices spiked during the 2008 presidential
campaign, while environmentalists argue that more drilling could lead
to oil spills and destruction of fragile ecosystems.

Obama called for increased, targeted drilling on the
campaign trail. In his State of the Union address in January, he said
energy security and job creation require “making tough decisions about
opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development.”

But his administration has come under heavy fire
from Republicans in the last year for dragging its feet on offshore
exploration, with some in the GOP accusing Obama of a de-facto “moratorium” on new drilling.

Shortly after Obama took office, his Interior Department
pulled back a Bush administration proposal for drilling between 2012
and 2017. Later, a court invalidated portions of the nation’s existing
drilling plan.

The announcement Wednesday will set out a new 2012-2017 proposal as well as more immediate plans for lease sales.

Environmentalists and industry lobbyists widely expect the immediate plans to include drilling in Alaska’s Chukchi and Beaufort seas, which environmentalists have worked aggressively to block.

Administration officials said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, as part of Obama’s new drilling plan, will scrap a planned lease sale for Bristol Bay. Obama will announce that he is reverting to the policies of Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, who both blocked drilling of any kind in the bay.

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