Drill, Baby, Drill

Obama to Expand Offshore Drilling

Will open up new areas off Atlantic coast.

Does this mean Sarah Palin will say something nice about the Obama administration? President Obama plans to open up large swaths of the Atlantic coastline, the Gulf of Mexico, and the northern coast of Alaska to offshore drilling for oil and natural gas, says The New York Times. The proposal would end a longstanding moratorium on drilling from the northern coast of Delaware to the central coast of Florida, while preserving the moratorium in the Atlantic north of New Jersey and on the entire mainland Pacific coast. Obama is trying to win the votes of conservative and pro-drillings senators for his energy bill. His plan, unlike President Bush’s drilling plan, will protect Alaska’s Bristol Bay. Though much of the drilling will not begin for years, the first lease sale off the coast of Virginia could take place next year.