Environmentalists angered as Obama Administration pushes for Atlantic oil drilling

The Obama Administration moved forward on Tuesday with a proposal to start drilling in the Atlantic Ocean from Georgia to Virginia while also seeking to restrict drilling near Alaska — a move that is leaving a sour taste in the mouths of environmentalists.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell proposed to keep the Pacific Coast free of new oil development, which irritated Alaska politicians seeking to jump-start their economy, while opening up drilling in the Atlantic, which is angering environmentalists and the local tourism industry, according to a Los Angeles Times report.

Jewell called it a balanced proposal that would both open up new resources for drilling while protecting other areas that are more fragile, according to the report.

It marks the start of an offshore leasing program that runs from 2017 through 2022, and the government will hear comments from the public on the draft proposal.

The proposal would protect nearly 10 million acres in seas off the coast of Alaska, which conversation groups say are used by whales, walruses, seals, seabirds, and other marine life. However, environmentalists don’t think the Obama Administration did enough, as it is still allowing oil and gas leases in three areas in the Arctic. Instead, environmentalists want the Administration to push harder for clean energy rather than encourage further oil exploration, pointing to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill five years ago in the Gulf of Mexico that devastated local wildlife and coastal communities.

Alaska politicians, on the other hand, complained that the Interior Department should have gone in the other direction, opening up drilling to boost a struggling Alaskan economy. Alaska Gov. Bill Walker said the Administration making this move was like being “kicked while we’re down.”

The Interior Department’s plan also calls for 10 oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico, and one that would include a large area off the Atlantic coast. The governors of the states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia all approve of the drilling.