Obama offshore drilling

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White House Conditionally Approves Shell's Arctic Drilling

Permits still needed, but drilling could start this summer

(Newser) - In a big victory for the petroleum industry, Shell has been granted conditional White House approval to start drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic this summer, the New York Times reports. "We have taken a thoughtful approach to carefully considering potential exploration in the Chukchi Sea, recognizing...

Obama OKs More Drilling in Alaska, Offshore

Orders annual lease sales in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve

(Newser) - With both gas prises and anger on the rise, President Obama has decided to allow new drilling in Alaska's national petroleum reserve. Lease sales in the 23.5 million-acre reserve—which serves as home to millions of migratory birds, two caribou herds, gray wolves, and other wildlife—have been...

Feds: Big Oil Not Using the Leases They Have

Interior Department issues report to push back against complaints

(Newser) - With oil companies and Republicans criticizing the Obama administration for being too slow to issue new offshore drilling permits in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the Interior Department hit back with a report yesterday revealing that the industry isn’t using the majority of the leases it already...

US Won't Lift Ban on Offshore Gulf Drilling

It's a reversal of a pre-BP decision

(Newser) - In a reversal, the Obama administration said today it will not pursue offshore drilling off the East Coast of the US and the eastern Gulf of Mexico. A senior administration said that because of the BP oil spill, the Interior Department will not propose any new oil drilling in waters...

Drilling Ban Put 23K Out of Work

But BP's paying for it, White House says

(Newser) - The federal moratorium on deepwater drilling isn't helping unemployment, with some 23,000 workers out of work as a result if the ban holds for six months. A July 10 White House memo showed that the ban would idle 9,450 people directly, and another 14,000 indirectly, reports the...

Judge Blocks Drilling Ban; White House Will Appeal

Affected companies oppose 6-month moratorium

(Newser) - The Obama administration may not impose a 6-month moratorium on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, a federal judge in New Orleans ruled today. The White House immediately said it plans to appeal the decision, CNN reports . The Interior Department imposed the ban in the wake of the...

Obama to Reopen Drilling in Gulf Shallows

Deep water drilling moratorium to stay put

(Newser) - The government's almost ready to release new safety standards that will allow companies to start searching for oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico again, President Obama said yesterday. Obama was seeking to reassure Gulf residents worried that the moratorium introduced after the Deepwater Horizon will destroy thousands of...

Louisiana Oil Industry Fears Drilling Ban Fallout

State projects loss of 20K jobs during 6-month moratorium

(Newser) - President Obama's 6-month drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico is intended to head off another environmental disaster, but it may end up causing an economic one. The oil industry makes up one-sixth of Louisiana's GDP, and the state estimates the ban would result in 20,000 jobs lost, NPR...

Shell Gets Go Ahead for Arctic Drilling

Court clears the way for exploratory drill

(Newser) - Shell got the go ahead to ' drill, baby, drill ' in the Arctic this summer, after a three-judge panel rejected a legal challenge standing in the way of their plans. The court determined that the federal Minerals Management Service ( Um, remember them? ) weighed the potential threat to...

Poll: 42% Think Obama's Doing Good Job on Oil Spill
 Poll: 42% Think 
 Obama's Doing 
 Good Job on Oil Spill 
50% STILL FAVOR DRILLING
May 13, 2010 11:20 AM CDT

Poll: 42% Think Obama's Doing Good Job on Oil Spill

Majority support more drilling, despite risks

(Newser) - The Gulf oil spill is not "Obama's Katrina," regardless of what Rush Limbaugh says. A new AP/GfK poll finds that the disaster hasn't hurt President Obama—but neither has it dimmed the public's desire for more offshore energy drilling. Some highlights:
  • Obama's handling: Some 42% of those surveyed
...

Bush's 'Brownie': Obama Wanted Spill to Spread

Anti-oil prez waited for disaster, says ex-FEMA chief

(Newser) - President Obama's doing a heckuva job in using the Gulf oil spill to further his anti-Big Oil agenda, according to former FEMA chief Michael Brown. Brown—whose handling of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath won praise from few apart from President Bush—says that Obama waited for the oil spill to worsen...

Op-Ed Columnist - Oil Drilling, Disaster and Denial - NYTimes.com
Gulf Spill Will Make Us Care About the Planet Again
Paul Krugman
May 3, 2010 10:34 AM CDT

Gulf Spill Will Make Us Care About the Planet Again

Paul Krugman finds a silver lining in changing public opinion

(Newser) - We can't begin to guess the full devastation of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, but Paul Krugman finds an unexpected silver lining: Environmental destruction has become "photogenic again." Just as Earth Day was born four decades ago of an America sickened by images of Santa Barbara beaches coated in...

Obama: I Still Like Drilling, But ...

The Gulf spill shows why it must be done 'responsibly'

(Newser) - In the wake of the spill off the Louisiana coast, how goes President Obama's plan to expand offshore drilling? After statements from the president and a top aide, it amounts to: We'll see. The president reiterated today that he likes the idea as part of an overall energy plan. "...

Oil Spill Endangers Obama's Drilling Plans

Growing slick expected to reach land tomorrow

(Newser) - The feds are ramping up efforts to contain the widening oil spill near Louisiana, with Janet Napolitano designating it an event of "national significance." For President Obama, it's also an event of political significance. With oil pouring into the Gulf, the environmental mess is already causing trouble for...

Regulate, Baby, Regulate; Drilling Won't Solve Much

Only energy industry re-regulation can stop zooming gas prices

(Newser) - President Obama's decision to open up new offshore drilling was a brilliant political move that may or may not harm the environment, Thomas Frank writes in the Wall Street Journal. But if Obama wants to avoid a repeat of the oil price crisis of 2008—that which fueled the "...

Obama Doesn't Really Want to Drill, Baby, Drill
Obama Doesn't Really Want to Drill, Baby, Drill
Sarah Palin
Apr 1, 2010 1:19 PM CDT

Obama Doesn't Really Want to Drill, Baby, Drill

Democrats' energy plans amount to a stalling tactic

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s new energy proposal is less “drill, baby, drill,” and more “stall, baby, stall,” Sarah Palin complains in a blog post on the National Review . Obama today said he’d “consider potential areas for development” while “studying protecting sensitive areas in the...

Pundits Skeptical on Obama Drilling Plan

Some doubt that the legislative strategy will pay off

(Newser) - President Obama's plan for more offshore drilling has critics on the left and right quick to weigh in:
  • Rick Klein, the Note : "It has the looks of a classic Obama first step that leaves no one satisfied—and irks some allies."
  • Matthew Yglesias, Think Progress : "I don’
...

Obama to Open New Offshore Drilling

Atlantic drilling to open up first time in 20 years

(Newser) - President Obama plans to clear the way for drilling for oil and gas in new areas off the Atlantic coast, Alaska, and in the Gulf of Mexico, administration officials say. The proposal—to be unveiled today at a joint press conference with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar—keeps intact the moratorium...

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