The Obama administration announced Tuesday it’s changing course and shelving its proposal to drill for oil in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the southeast of the U.S. The January 2015 proposal to open up federal waters for the first time from Virginia through Georgia was largely supported by the states’ governors and legislatures but created a significant backlash in coastal communities. Under the proposal the administration planned on auctioning off drilling rights to 104 million acres; the Interior Department estimates there are 3.3 billion barrels of oil and 31.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the area.
“We heard from many corners that now is not the time to offer oil and gas leasing off the Atlantic coast,” Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said. “When you factor in conflicts with national defense, economic activities such as fishing and tourism, and opposition from many local communities, it simply doesn’t make sense to move forward with any lease sales in the coming five years.” The reversal comes at a time when oil prices have fallen through the floor, altering the economic rationale for drilling.
The revised proposal eliminates the opening of the outer continental shelf in the Atlantic, but, Bloomberg reports, the package “also sets the stage for selling oil and gas leases in the Arctic waters of the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, as well as Alaska’s Cook Inlet and the Gulf of Mexico, where 10 auctions were tentatively scheduled from 2017 to 2022.”
