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WASHINGTON—The Obama administration unveiled a new offshore-drilling strategy that expands oil and natural-gas exploration off the Atlantic, eastern Gulf of Mexico and northern shores of Alaska.
The Interior Department said the new areas to be considered could hold as much as 80% of the undiscovered recoverable oil and gas on the U.S. outer continental shelf.
President Barack Obama said it was part of a broader energy strategy and called on federal lawmakers to work together to pass comprehensive energy and climate legislation to curb greenhouse gases.
By responding to a Republican rallying cry to "drill, baby, drill," the announcement gives the administration leverage to entice the GOP and moderate Republicans to support a bipartisan energy and climate proposal being crafted by a trio of senators.
"I know that we can come together to pass comprehensive energy and climate legislation that will foster new industries and millions of new jobs protecting our planet and helping us become more energy independent," Mr. Obama said in a speech at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.
The administration is restructuring an existing 2007-2012 exploration and development program and drafting a new 2012-2017 schedule.
The Minerals Management Service estimates that the new areas to be considered may hold between 39 billion and 63 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 168 trillion to 294 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas.
The administration plans to open a large swath in the eastern Gulf of Mexico 125 miles off the coast of Florida, and will consider development in the mid- and south-Atlantic regions.
Mr. Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the administration plans to keep off-limits until at least after 2017 the Pacific and Bristol Bay in Alaska, an ecologically rich region off the North Aleutian shore.
Somewhat surprising to me. Bob McDonnell should be happy.
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