Obama administration to open Atlantic coast to drilling, handing victory to governors group

For proponents of expanded domestic oil and gas production, the Obama Administration hath given, and it hath taken away. The administration on Tuesday set aside sections of the Alaskan Arctic Ocean for permanent protection, but also announced it would open parts of the Atlantic coast to drilling. That will come as good news to a coalition of governors with close ties to industry that was the subject of a Center investigation last fall.

The move came in a pair of announcements from the White House and the Interior Department, which released a draft plan for drilling off the nation’s coasts.

“It takes a balanced approach to oil and gas development,” said Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, in a call with reporters.

The draft, part of the “Five Year Program” that governs offshore drilling for 2017-2022, would for the first time in decades open access to a stretch of the coast from Virginia to Georgia, though the department has yet to determine where exactly any leasing would occur. That decision, which will take years, is to be based on studies about environmental risks, oil and gas reserves and input from various stakeholders.

The plan would also include a 50-mile “coastal buffer,” to minimize impacts on fishing, tourism, military and other activities. But the announcement drew swift criticism from environmental advocates, who say drilling in the Atlantic would harm other economic sectors that rely on clean water and undeveloped shorelines.

While any drilling is years away and could still be cancelled, the announcement hands a major victory to the oil and gas industry and to the governors of Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. As the Center reported in November, the three governors — Terry McAuliffe, Pat McCrory and Nikki Haley — have been working behind the scenes with an energy industry lobbying group to promote offshore drilling through a group called the Outer Continental Shelf Governors Coalition.

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Copyright 2014 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.