Obama Gives the Shaft to Alaska While Pretending to Open Up Oil Exploration

While pretending to warm up to oil exploration, Obama has decided that Bristol, Alaska, is off limits.  Interesting, considering that Alaska is already gearing up and almost ready to roll.  Of course, it does not escape our attention that Sarah Palin’s eldest daughter is named Bristol…  Still playing partisan politics, are we, Mr. Obama?

Obama Announces Expanded Offshore Oil Exploration

By Nicholas Johnston and Kim Chipman

March 31 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama said today he will allow oil and natural-gas drilling off the U.S. East Coast and cancel development in Bristol Bay, Alaska.

The president proposed permitting exploration in the Atlantic Ocean from Delaware south and, if a congressional moratorium is lifted, in the Gulf of Mexico 125 miles (201 kilometers) off the west coast of Florida.

“Given our energy needs, in order to sustain economic growth and produce jobs, and keep our businesses competitive, we are going to need to harness traditional sources of fuel even as we ramp up production of new sources,” Obama said at an event at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.

Obama’s comments are his most detailed to date on coastal exploration, a topic that has divided lawmakers and now threatens to derail efforts to reach a compromise on climate- change legislation. Democratic senators such as Bill Nelson of Florida have said they won’t support a bill providing for unlimited exploration, while U.S. oil companies press to increase domestic exploration.

The expanded exploration will help reduce the nation’s reliance on foreign sources of oil while it begins to transition to new energy sources, the president said.

‘Broader Strategy’

“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 more on homegrown fuels and clean energy,” Obama said. “The answer is not drilling everywhere all the time.”

The decision to scrap leasing in Bristol Bay overturns former President George W. Bush’s action lifting a long-time ban on drilling in the region.

“It’s about protecting places that are special as well as looking at additional places that should be opened up for oil and gas development,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said earlier in an interview on Bloomberg Television.

In the Atlantic Ocean, Obama is proposing immediate exploration 50 miles off the coast of Virginia and further study elsewhere for new oil and natural gas fields.

“It’s absolutely a big change in policy because these areas have been closed for years,” said Stuart Traver, principal adviser at consultant Gaffney, Cline & Associates Ltd. in Singapore. “We’re really talking probably years before we see an impact in terms of new production.”

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Ah, there it is; the commie-meat of the matter:  Bristol was already gearing up for production and we could have been reaping the rewards of that sweet, black,  Alaskan “ice tea” in just a few short years.   Nope,  Ecobama couldn’t have that, as it would actually pump oil and money into the economy.

So, when you really think about this and analyze it, it is nothing more than another stall tactic by the Obama administration to keep America from drilling for oil.

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