BP Spill May Alter Obama’s Plans to Expand Offshore Drilling

[tekisui]

Source: Business Week

April 29 (Bloomberg) -- The worsening oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may alter President Barack Obama’s five-year plan to open new areas to offshore oil and natural gas drilling, administration officials said today.

“Obviously, what’s occurring now will also be taken into consideration as the administration looks to how to advance that plan and what makes sense and what might need to be adjusted,” Carol Browner, Obama’s adviser for energy and climate change, said. “Right now we need to stay focused on the incident. We need to learn from the incident.”

Obama has mobilized federal agencies and opened the door to more resources in response to the spill from a damaged BP Plc well that is leaking about 5,000 barrels a day, five times more than previously estimated. The slick is expected to reach the Gulf Coast as early as tomorrow, administration officials said today, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has declared a state of emergency.

With Congress working on climate change and energy legislation, Obama proposed last month drilling for oil and gas off the U.S. East Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico 125 miles off the west coast of Florida. At the time, he said the plan is part of a transition to a new-energy economy that relies less on imported fossil fuel and more on domestic and renewable power sources, including solar and wind.

more: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-29/bp-spill-may-alter-obama-s-plans-to-expand-offshore-drilling.html

[BrklynLiberal]

1. One can hope.

[flpoljunkie]

7. Indeed!

[gateley]

2. That would be wonderful -- actually learning something from this tragedy. nt

[Thrill]

3. He's a Democrat.

They shouldn't have never proposed that nonsense in the first place.

[DrDan]

4. "adjusted"???? How about "scrapped"

[texastoast]

5. I will use woo-hoo smiley

When he confirms it.

[Blue Owl]

6. Sad this is what it takes

We have the brainpower to KNOW that offshore drilling will create environmental catastrophes, yet everything has to go horribly wrong before anything is ever done about it.

We have the brainpower to understand that oil is one of the least safe and most pollution-causing means of energy -- yet business & profit comes before all else.

Stupid humans, us.

[flpoljunkie]

8. Sadly, special interests will not rest until they get every dime of oil profits.

[chill_wind]

9. Hoping and paying attention. K & R. n/t

[besdayz]

10. darwin

unfortunately we're dealing with opposition that doesn't changes ideas in response to experience. absolutely no temperance...


if they were some other species they would've been wiped out long ago by some....but as humans, who have resisted darwin in the modern world, the are allowed to perpetuate and poison the well....d

[chill_wind]

11. ..

[art of compromise]

12. Good.