The Obama administration declared Atlantic waters off limits for oil and gas leasing for the next five years, the Department of Interior announced on Tuesday.
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A proposal to drill for oil and natural gas off the coast of Georgia and other Southern states is now off the table.
The latest programme assesses 13 potential lease sales in six planning areas, ten potential sales in the Gulf of Mexico and three potential sales off the coast of Alaska and excludes lease sales in the mid and South Atlantic Program Area.
“Offshore drilling can devastate the environment, harming our unique and fragile coastline and wreaking havoc on the coastal communities whose economies rely heavily on tourism”, Mikulski said.
Environmental groups and coastal communities, by contrast, vigorously opposed the drilling plan, fearing a spill would coat the region’s beaches in crude and damage the tourism industry.
The department cited local opposition, the current oil market, and conflicts with the Defense Department and commercial interests among the reasons for dropping the Atlantic Coast from the leasing program.
But since the ocean energy bureau released its draft drilling plan previous year, many coastal residents had risen up in protest.
The military’s more recent objections to the Atlantic drilling plan appear to have carried significant weight.
“This is fantastic news for the coast of SC”, said Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., whose 1st Congressional District runs along almost the entire length of the Palmetto State coastline. “Communities along the Atlantic have been strongly unified against this plan, and we are grateful the President listened”. Oil companies and trade groups also say the protesters against oil drilling on the East Coast only represent 7.2 percent of the population, with most Americans in favor of offshore drilling.
The proposed plan includes details for sale of fields in the Gulf of Mexico, the Chukchi Sea, Beaufort Sea and Cook Inlet in the American Arctic Ocean.
“This is a courageous decision that begins the shift to a new energy paradigm, where clean energy replaces fossil fuels, and where we can avoid the worst impacts of decades of our carbon dioxide emissions”, the group’s Vice President Jacqueline Savitz said in a statement.
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“A tragedy like that off of our coast would be “game over” for our beaches”, she said, “and so, really, this is a huge victory for our coast, for anyone who loves beaches and wants to be able to visit them, not just now but for future generations”.
