Clearing the way for new offshore oil drilling leases, President Obama showed a new flexibility on energy policy — but whether it buys him support for stalled emissions legislation remains uncertain.
“We need to move beyond the tired debates between right and left, between business leaders and environmentalists, between those who would claim drilling is a cure-all and those who would claim it has no place,” Obama said in a speech at Andrews Air Force Base.
Recharging his energy agenda is among several initiatives the president is taking up in the wake of his health care victory, in the hopes that broader momentum can propel new policy achievements.
The expanded offshore exploration is sure to appease some Republicans and oil state Democrats, but likely would not be enough to win their support for a cap-and-trade program that would require companies to purchase carbon credits.
Sarah Ladislaw, an energy and national security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Obama’s move on drilling is a continuation of his State of the Union gestures toward nuclear and other energy sources.
“It extends an olive branch to show they are open to a wider portfolio of fuel options,” Ladislaw said. “Now, the question of whether this equals a trade-off for those who oppose cap and trade — I don’t know that there is an obvious trade-off.”
Sacrificing cap and trade, an issue he campaigned on but has lately retreated from, may be the price Obama has to pay to get things moving on his energy agenda, which also includes creating “green energy” jobs, promoting new research and diversifying fuel resources.
A bill limiting industry emissions and allowing companies to sell permits for meeting federal standards passed last year in the House but languished in the Senate as opposition grew over the economic effect the law could have on the private sector.
“I think the term ‘cap and trade’ is not in the lexicon anymore,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told CNBC ahead of Obama’s announcement on offshore drilling.
Still, the United States in November is participating in a sequel to last year’s United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, this time in Mexico City. Obama hopes to show progress on an emissions program ahead of the gathering of nations, and losing cap and trade is a significant setback to those efforts.
Obama’s move to allow exploration off the Virginia coast and from Delaware to Florida represents a deep compromise for the president, who vowed during the 2008 campaign to honor a moratorium on drilling off the coast of Florida.
He also expressed doubt that expanding drilling and exploration would do much to ease energy costs for consumers.
But as “drill, baby, drill” gathered force during the campaign as a Republican rallying cry, Obama warmed to the idea and said he would be willing to consider a compromise on offshore drilling and exploration.
The new lease announcement angered many environmentalists, although Obama moved to blunt their opposition by including a ban on drilling in Alaska’s Bristol Bay.
