Obama Opening the East Coast to Drilling

The Obama Administration will formally announce today that it will open the East Coast to oil drilling. From Delaware to the eastern Gulf of Mexico will be part of the proposal, which was long off-limits from a moratorium made in Congress. The suspected proposal will cover 167 miles of ocean.

This proposal was one that the Bush Administration tried to pass but got carried over to President Obama. President Obama initially put the legislation aside, but now he is going to pass it with a few changes. The main change will be that Bristol Bay, a wildlife protection area, will not be open for exploration. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar orchestrated the deal, which will not allow drilling to begin for over a year, due to intense geological and environmental studies that must be completed before the project can get started. That clause is part of President Obama’s middle ground on the subject. He wants to find a way to make the U.S. less dependent on foreign oil while drilling in the “right way and in the right places.”

Reports on exactly how much oil lies beneath the East Coast waters are unclear. Reports on the area are over 30 years old but that it is rumored that the eastern Gulf could have around 3.5 billion barrels of oil and 17 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

President Obama will draw some fire from some of his supporters, but he did warn of having to make “tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development” in his State of the Union Address. It will be interesting to note how this decision influences voters around election time.