Obama Administration Eyes East Coast for Offshore Drilling

Last week, the Obama administration released a proposal through the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management—a division within the Department of the Interior—that includes a five-year plan for offshore drilling in American waters beginning in 2017. That plan names 14 possible lease sites: 10 in the Gulf of Mexico, one off the coast of the Eastern Seaboard, between Virginia and Georgia, and three off the coast of Alaska. It also closes off 10 million acres of the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas near Alaska to drilling.

Democratic officials angry with the plan point to past failings in drilling. This year marks the five-year anniversary of the BP oil spill in the Gulf; the same deep-water tactics, with no new regulations to make them safer, could be used off the East Coast. “If drilling is allowed off the East Coast of the United States, it puts our beaches, our fisherman, and our environment in the crosshairs for an oil spill that could devastate our shores,” Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts said at a press conference after the announcement. “We’re going to make it clear we’re very unhappy with this plan… You’re looking at the beginning of an alliance to put pressure on this administration to withdraw this proposal.” This is in sharp contrast from Markey’s last statement regarding the plan, which applauded the president for protecting of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. 

Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell said in a press release, “At this early stage in considering a lease sale in the Atlantic, we are looking to build up our understanding of resource potential, as well as risks to the environment and other uses.” But a balanced approach seems to have served the purpose of alienating everyone, including the oil industry. “While considering the Atlantic for potential development is a good step, the administration's proposal represents the bare minimum for potentially opening that area by including only a single lease sale six years from now,” said a spokesman for the American Petroleum Institute to NJ.com.

So far the proposal simply names sites that could be up for grabs, which means that there is still time for the opposition to rally. An open comment period will proceed until March 28th, after which the Department of the Interior will release its final list of sites that can be legally leased to oil companies. In the meantime, activist groups will attempt to shutter some of those potential spots, hoping to follow in the footsteps of the Pacific states, which have successfully blocked drilling off their coastlines.