President Obama ordered the Interior Department to expand oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve, but his plan to increase domestic production at a time of soaring fuel prices doesn’t include a long-sought lease sale 50 miles off the coast of Virginia, analysts say. Rather, Obama merely directed the Interior Department to speed up the evaluation of resources along the Atlantic coast. It’s a far cry from just over a year ago, when the president cleared the way for offshore oil and natural gas exploration only to institute a drilling moratorium following a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Exploration off of Virginia’s coast was later blocked until at least 2017.
“I don’t see any commitment here for [Virginia’s lease sale],” Erik Milito of the American Petroleum Institute said of Obama’s plan. “I don’t see anything here that will create the kind of opportunities in the near future that this country needs.”
Obama’s plan merely pressures Interior to speed up an environmental impact study on surveys that determine how much gas and oil is actually available off the Virginia coast, said Marirose Pratt of the Southern Environmental Law Center.
“It doesn’t impact drilling,” she said. “There’s a separate permitting process for that.”
The Interior Department estimates that the nearly three million acre swath off the state’s coast could yield 140 million barrels of oil and 1.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. But a recent Petroleum Institute-commissioned study puts the totals at 500 million barrels of oil and 2.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
“I am pleased that the president recently announced a slight change in his policy on offshore drilling,” said Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., a strong proponent of drilling off Virginia’s coast. “However, it certainly doesn’t go far enough and will not do enough to address our skyrocketing energy prices.”
Pratt said that the announcement could still pave the way for drilling — just not in the near future.
“The administration and the Department of the Interior shouldn’t be rushing decisions based on pressure from the industry,” she said. “This move is at least a step in the direction towards drilling.”
Gov. Bob McDonnell welcomed what he called the president’s change of heart, and has urged him to support legislation in Congress that would expand offshore oil and gas exploration.
“I think [Obama’s] coming to both the political and economic realities that responsible offshore drilling has got to be part of the mix,” McDonnell said.
