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Obama to open up US East Coast for oil exploration
Barack Obama earned the instant anger of environmentalists and many of his core liberal supporters yesterday by declaring his intention to open vast areas of off-shore waters for future drilling for oil and gas, reversing decades-old policies of leaving the waves to fish, gulls and holidaymakers.
The highly controversial plan, unveiled at Andrews Air Force Base, could, over time, give multinational energy companies
access to the seabed along much of the eastern seaboard from Delaware all the way south to Florida, in eastern areas of the Gulf of Mexico and off the North Slope of Alaska.
While the president often derided Republicans during the 2008 campaign, including Sarah Palin, for holding out offshore drilling as an answer to escalating petrol prices with their rallying cry "Drill, baby, drill", he has been dropping hints for months of his intention to shift position.
The impact would be seen first in a swathe of ocean territory off the coast of Virginia where leases will be put up for sale to energy companies within two years. No new drilling has been permitted in US Atlantic waters for two decades. Meanwhile, government geologists will begin assessing the viability of exploration in other areas along the eastern seaboard.