U.S. ATLANTIC - Offshore Drilling?

"Why open Atlantic offshore drilling now?" PBS NewsHour 1/27/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Not even 48 hours since announcing a plan to block drilling in Alaska’s arctic wildlife refuge, the Obama administration rolled out a plan to open up parts of the southern Atlantic coast for oil and gas exploration.  While lawmakers from Virginia to Georgia support the move, politicians in the North worry about safety standards.  Judy Woodruff learns more from Amy Harder of The Wall Street Journal.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Less than 48 hours after the president announced a proposal to block energy development in Alaska’s Arctic Refuge, his administration said today it plans to open up parts of the Atlantic Coast for oil and gas exploration.

The proposal would allow offshore drilling along the southeastern Atlantic Coast for the first time, from Virginia down to Georgia.  Companies could win leases for drilling, but would have to keep a 50-mile buffer from coastal areas in case of a spill.

The plan would, however, block exploration in some waters off Alaska’s North Slope.

We take a closer look at what this could mean, and the reaction to this series of moves, with Amy Harder, who reports for The Wall Street Journal.

Welcome to the program.

AMY HARDER, The Wall Street Journal:  Thanks for having me on.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  So, why is the administration announcing this right now, 48 hours, as we said, after the other announcement?

AMY HARDER:  Well, it’s certainly not a coincidence.

The administration has — since President Obama became president, has really done a got of give-and-take with this energy and environment policy.  So they came out on Sunday announcing that they’re going to put away about 13 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge away as wilderness, which really puts it off to oil and gas development.

Of course, this plan out of the Interior Department is required by law, but they wanted to show the environmental base and some congressional Democrats that they’re committed to protecting some of these lands.  At the same time, they’re clearly giving some support to the industry by opening up, cautiously, some of these areas.