Why Obama’s Drilling Plan Ignores America’s Changing Energy Role – Forbes

A few years ago, President Obama outlined an "all-the-above" energy strategy. These days, his strategy seems to be "do no harm." The plan outlined today, which would open parts of the eastern seaboard to offshore drilling while pulling back on new drilling in Alaska, seems more geared toward avoiding difficult political choices than laying down a coherent energy strategy for the nation's future.

A key part of the president's plan would allow offshore drilling from Virginia to Georgia and in some Arctic waters beginning in 2017 and running through 2022. That part isn't popular with environmentalists, but it won't be an issue until Obama is out of office. It's also worth noting that the program protects the northern Atlantic and Pacific coasts from new drilling. In other words, the two regions of the country that engage in the heaviest and most concentrated use of fossil fuels are not forced to share in the sacrifice of producing it.

The Atlantic drilling plan is essentially the same one that was set to go into effect before the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico caused the administration to put it on hold. Ideally, the plan would include significant changes in the monitoring of offshore operations and include new provisions that would help prevent accidents. So far, though, the administration has not made these sort of sweeping changes in offshore regulations in the Gulf, and it's unlikely it will require them on the East Coast, either.

In terms of building an energy infrastructure for the future, though, the East Coast part of the plan makes some sense. The problem is that the administration, like so many before it, isn't adopting it as part of a broader, cohesive energy strategy.

Obama seems to be taking the well-trod path of U.S. presidents in picking and choosing energy projects that are politically palatable, rather than those that ensure long-term energy security. While he is opening the Atlantic seaboard to potential drilling, Obama remains largely silent on another key piece of energy infrastructure, the Keystone pipeline. He did make a dismissive reference to it in his State of the Union address.

Under the president's plan, drilling on the East Coast is OK, but drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge isn't. Large parts of the refuge known to contain huge oil reserves would be removed from potential drilling sites, as would some Arctic waters. As Chris Helman points out, this will essentially strangle the Trans-Alaska pipeline, a vital oil conduit that helped us respond to past energy crises.

Two weeks after Obama told the nation he wanted to strengthen the country's infrastructure, he is embracing an inconsistent energy policy that seems intent on tearing down key parts of the energy infrastructure.