PRESIDENT Barack Obama intends to allow oil&gas prospecting off the US Atlantic coast, so threatening to end a 20-year drilling moratorium.
He says it is vital that the US breaks its dependency on foreign oil and relies more on “home-grown fuels and clean energy”.
President Obama will initially permit drilling along a large portion of Virginia’s shoreline and out towards the US 200-mile exclusive economic zone boundary.
It is reported that the US president’s plan offers few concessions to environmentalists, who have been strident in their opposition to more oil&gas exploitation in US territorial waters.
It is also reported that Obama may allow exploration along the south Atlantic and mid-Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf “to support energy planning” – a step towards potential leasing.
In addition, the Interior Department has prepared a plan to add drilling in the eastern sector of the Gulf of Mexico (off Florida) if Congress allows that moratorium to expire.
Obama is also allowing an expansion in Alaska’s Cook Inlet to go forward. However, the moratorium on drilling off the west coast is expected to stand.