ABOUT THAT OFFSHORE DRILLING PLAN…. About a month ago, the Obama administration moved forward with a plan to allow new oil and natural gas drilling along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and the north coast of Alaska.
That, of course, was before the unfolding disaster in the Gulf began. Are those plans still on track? Not so much.
As some Democratic lawmakers call on President Obama to suspend his plans to expand offshore oil drilling, the White House today said that there will be no new domestic offshore drilling until the investigation into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is complete.
“All he has said is that he’s not going to continue the moratorium on drilling but… no additional drilling has been authorized and none will until we find out what happened here and whether there was something unique and preventable here,” White House senior adviser David Axelrod said on “Good Morning America” today, defending the administration’s policy.
Axelrod said no new drilling in domestic areas will go forward until “there is an adequate review of what happened here and what is being proposed elsewhere.”
I’ll go out on a limb and put this in the “no brainer” category.
Meanwhile, efforts to address the disaster continue along the Gulf Coast. President Obama dispatched Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson to the area to help oversee efforts with federal, state, and local officials.
