Offshore drilling approved in Atlantic , Eastern Gulf, off Alaska

NY Times:

The Obama administration is proposing to open vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling, much of it for the first time, officials said Tuesday.

The proposal — a compromise that will please oil companies and domestic drilling advocates but anger some residents of affected states and many environmental organizations — would end a longstanding moratorium on oil exploration along the East Coast from the northern tip of Delaware to the central coast of Florida, covering 167 million acres of ocean.

Under the plan, the coastline from New Jersey northward would remain closed to all oil and gas activity. So would the Pacific Coast, from Mexico to the Canadian border.

The environmentally sensitive Bristol Bay in southwestern Alaska would be protected and no drilling would be allowed under the plan, officials said. But large tracts in the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean north of Alaska — nearly 130 million acres — would be eligible for exploration and drilling after extensive studies.

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But while Mr. Obama has staked out middle ground on other environmental matters — supporting nuclear power, for example — the sheer breadth of the offshore drilling decision will take some of his supporters aback. And it is no sure thing that it will win support for a climate bill from undecided senators close to the oil industry, like Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, or Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana.

The Senate is expected to take up a climate bill in the next few weeks — the last chance to enact such legislation before midterm election concerns take over. Mr. Obama and his allies in the Senate have already made significant concessions on coal and nuclear power to try to win votes from Republicans and moderate Democrats. The new plan now grants one of the biggest items on the oil industry’s wish list — access to vast areas of the Outer Continental Shelf for drilling.

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While this is pretty good news, the drilling will still have to run a gauntlet of environmental wacko lawsuits and delays put up by the anti energy left. Keeping the Pacific off limits is a mistake. We know there is oil and gas there already, that could be exploited. Even if some on the West Coast have an irrational fear of oil spills, they should have no such concerns for natural gas.

More of Alaska should be made available for drilling too. The restrictions make no sense other than an attempt to restrict the production of wells that can add to our independence in energy production at an even lower cost than the off shore wells. House Minority Leader Boehner criticized the restrictions.

The drilling in the new areas will create thousand of new well paying jobs and as well as billions of dollars in royalties to the government to help pay down some of Obama's ridiculous spending excesses. It is about as good as you can expect from a bunch of Democrats.

This move should also enhance our national security.