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Obama proposes energy regulations to increase offshore drilling

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] US President Barack Obama and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced a comprehensive energy plan Wednesday that would introduce regulations to increase offshore drilling while tightening emissions and mileage standards on vehicles. The plan would allow exploration off the coasts of the mid-Atlantic and southeastern states and development in previously closed areas of the Gulf of Mexico. Obama stated: I want to emphasize that this announcement is part of a broader strategy that will move us from an economy that runs on fossil fuels and foreign oil to one that relies on homegrown fuels and clean energy. And the only way this transition will succeed is if it strengthens our economy in the short term and the long term. To fail to recognize this reality would be a mistake.Congressman Jim Moran (D-VA), Chairman of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, opposed the plan, arguing that "nabling more drilling, when these sources have yet to be exhausted, only feeds our economic dependence on fossil fuels when we should be moving more aggressively to cleaner, sustainable sources of energy."Last year, a panel for the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated a Bush-era program that would have allowed drilling off the coast of Alaska because the Department of the Interior (DOI) had failed to carry out required studies. The ruling followed plans by the Obama administration to reverse offshore drilling policies established by former president George W. Bush at the end of his presidency. The Obama administration planned to extend the public comment period on the proposed five-year plan for offshore oil and gas development by 180 days, assembling a detailed report from DOI agencies on conventional and renewable offshore energy resources, holding four regional conferences to review these findings, and expediting renewable energy rule making.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on April 01, 2010 (boomark / email).