In late March, President Obama announced his plans to open water along the Atlantic coastline from Delaware to Florida, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling. His rationale is that as the country increases its usage of renewable energy, we still need to use traditional sources of fuel “in order to sustain economic growth and produce jobs and keep our businesses competitive.” While the president’s decision isn’t a complete reversal of promises he made while on the campaign trail, the massive amounts of water now open to drilling makes this latest turn of events disappointing.
The plan lifts a nearly 20–year ban on oil and gas activity in the Atlantic, from the northern tip of Delaware to the central coast of Florida, about 167 million acres of ocean. The plan continues the sale of oil and gas off the central and western Gulf of Mexico, and adds in the eastern Gulf.
Obama’s plan reverses some decisions made by George W. Bush’s administration. Bush had approved oil and gas leases off the northeastern Atlantic coast, but Obama’s plan protects the Atlantic coastline from New Jersey northward from exploration and drilling. Also unlike Bush’s plan, which intended to lift a ban from drilling off the Pacific coast, Obama’s plan continues the drilling ban in the Pacific Northwest. While Obama’s plan allows for drilling off Alaska’s north coast, it does not approve drilling in Bristol Bay in southwestern Alaska, home of sockeye salmon and endangered whales, as Bush’s plans had.
As a candidate, Obama had said that he was willing to compromise on offshore drilling if it were part of a larger strategy to lower energy costs. But as of late June 2008, he had told reporters that he intended to maintain the ban on drilling off of Florida’s coasts. This is a promise that this recent plan breaks.
In addition to hopefully reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil and earning money from the sale of offshore leases, this proposal hope to curry favor from congressional representatives so that they will support other energy and climate legislation Obama hopes to pass. So far, reactions to the drilling proposal suggests that Obama’s attempt to strike a compromise between liberals and conservatives will be unsuccessful. Drilling supporters deem Obama’s plans as not extensive enough, and drilling opponents denounce the plans. One prominent Republican senator who is still undecided in regards to the climate bill, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, praised Obama’s drilling proposal but said that it didn’t win her vote for the climate bill.
Obama’s plans to expand offshore drilling not only threaten marine life and coastal economies, they also alienate environmentally-minded lawmakers and fail to woo more conservative lawmakers. While Obama’s dedication to pass a comprehensive climate and energy bill is admirable, there’s only so much room for compromise.
Source: BecauseAction.com
