Oil drilling ban to be maintained in key areas, sources say

[BoogyMan]

The country is down so the moron in chief decides it is time to kick us a bit. Egads.....



Link (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/post-carbon/2010/12/obama_administration_will_ban.html)
Obama administration officials will announce Wednesday afternoon they will not allow offshore oil drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico or off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as part of the next five-year drilling plan, according to sources briefed on the plan, reversing two key policy changes President Obama announced in late March.

.: Read the rest of this article :. (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/post-carbon/2010/12/obama_administration_will_ban.html)

[Kathianne]

Playing to their base, which isn't going to go well when unemployment doesn't budge with all their 'green plans.'

[Kathianne]

Base is right, doubling down seen:

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2010/1201/Obama-backtracks-on-plan-to-open-more-Gulf-waters-to-offshore-drilling


Obama backtracks on plan to open more Gulf waters to offshore drilling

Obama backtracks on plan to open more Gulf waters to offshore drilling

In the aftermath of the Gulf oil spill, the Obama administration has decided to pull back from a plan to open Florida's Gulf coast and parts of the Atlantic seaboard to offshore drilling.

Lessons learned from the Gulf oil spill, seen here off the coast of Alabama in a May 9 photo, informed the Obama administration's decision to pull back from a plan to potentially expand offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

By Patrik Jonsson, Staff writer / December 1, 2010
Atlanta

The United States Interior Department on Wednesday backtracked on a plan to open up the eastern Gulf of Mexico and parts of the Atlantic seaboard to new offshore drilling leases – a decision sparked by the Gulf oil spill this summer and the failure to strike a political deal with Republicans on global-warming legislation.

The decision, which bans oil exploration in these areas until at least 2017, could have an impact on short-term energy independence while also laying a more permanent framework for the development of alternative energy sources.

It also hints at what could be a new method of governing for President Obama in the wake of last month's midterm elections, with the president attempting to set energy policy himself rather than incorporating Congress.


"This may be an indicator of what Democrats and people on the hard left were saying after Democrats got thumped in November, that Obama should just start using executive authority and acting unilaterally," says Robert Bryce, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. "This is the beginning of that ... process of governing."

...

But with the global warming bill dead and the spill of 200 million gallons of oil in the Gulf fresh in the minds of many Americans, the administration is now placing more emphasis on drilling safety, scientific evaluation, and environmental assessment, the administration announced Wednesday. Other media outlets are reporting that the administration is still open to the possibility of expanding offshore drilling in central and western areas of the Gulf as well as off the coast of Alaska, which was also a part of the March plan...

[namvet]

a knee jerk reaction. he was more concerned about his rep than the spill



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